Regarding troponin levels...
Does the higher the troponin level = more cardiac damage and poorer prognois? Or after a certain level, it's all considered extensive damage?
I'm a fairly new nurse, and I don't work on a cardiac floor. So most of my patients get cardiac enzymes to rule out MI's. Mostly they come back negative or slightly elevated. Reason I'm asking is that someone in my family with CHF and loads of cardiac and other health issues just had an MI while in the hospital for CHF exacerbation, and the troponin level was 40. that's quite elevated--but I haven't seen enough elevated troponin levels to know if that's wildly elevated, or a value that's seen often enough with MI's....
I'd appreciate any info, I've tried to research it in my books and on the internet, but I can't get any specific info.