To evaluate the use of new cardiac biomarker for the prediction of in-hospital cardiovascular complications in elderly patients undergoing elective cardiac surgery.

Plasma N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP, cardiac troponin T (cTnT), pregnancy-associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A), ischemia-modified albumin (IMA), myeloperoxidase (MPO), metalloproteinase (MMP) soluble CD 40 ligand (sCD40L), and inflammatory cytokine levels will be measured in 100 elderly patients undergoing elective cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass before induction of anesthesia and 12 h, 24 h, and 48 h after surgery. Optimum discriminators for prediction of postoperative cardiovascular complications wil be determined by the use of receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves analyses.

Inclusion Criteria:

• patients aged 75 years or older undergoing elective cardiac surgery with CPB

Exclusion Criteria:

• positive cardiac troponin T test within the week before surgery
• patients undergoing emergent procedures
• patients with preoperative mechanical cardiac support
• patients undergoing hemodialysis