In the present study, we assessed the use of urinary natriuretic peptides [N-terminal proatrial natriuretic peptide (N-ANP) and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (N-BNP) and C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP)] in the diagnosis of heart failure. Thirty-four consecutive hospitalized heart failure patients (median age, 75.5 years; 14 female) were compared with 82 age- and gender-matched echoc...

BACKGROUND: In critically ill patients, auscultation might be challenging as dorsal lung fields are difficult to reach in supine-positioned and the environment is often noisy. recent years, clinicians have started consider ultrasound (LUS) a useful diagnostic tool for variety of pulmonary pathologies, including edema. AIM: The aim this study was compare LUS versus detecting edema patients. PATI...

OBJECTIVES We sought to compare urinary and plasma N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (N-BNP) in left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD) diagnosis. BACKGROUND Plasma N-BNP is elevated in LVSD. Renal tubule cells produce BNP. We tested the incremental value of urinary N-BNP in LVSD diagnosis. METHODS In this prospective, community-screening study of undiagnosed LVSD, 1,360 subject...

Objectives Cardiac biomarkers have been studied in sepsis in the past and various mechanisms for their rise have been elucidated. However their association with severity of sepsis, mortality and myocardial dysfunction warrants further studies. We have studied three different cardiac biomarkers- troponin T (trop T), creatine phosphokinase MB isoform (CPK MB) and NT pro brain natriuretic peptide ...

Atrial and brain natriuretic peptides (ANP and BNP) regulate blood pressure and cardiac function. In patients with heart failure (HF), plasma levels of pro-ANP and pro-BNP, the precursor forms of ANP and BNP, are highly elevated, but the mechanism underlying the apparent deficiency in natriuretic peptide processing is unclear. Corin is a cardiac protease that activates natriuretic peptides. In ...

BACKGROUND Several studies have been published in the literature on the diagnostic accuracy of NT-pro-BNP for pleural effusions from heart failure in the last decade. The purpose of our study was to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis on the diagnostic accuracy of pleural fluid NT-pro-BNP for pleural effusions of cardiac origin. METHODS MEDLINE, EMBASE, PapersFirst, and the Cochrane...

OBJECTIVE We studied the diagnostic value of CK-MB and troponin (cTnI) in uremia with acute left ventricular failure patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS We enrolled 130 uremia patients with maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) and divided them into two groups: (i) the observation group with patients suffering from acute left ventricular failure (n=30) and (ii) the control group which contained cases wit...

B type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and its pro-peptide N terminal fragment (NTproBNP) are raised in conditions associated with abnormal ventricular structure and function and are independent predictors of survival in diverse clinical settings. Patients without raised baseline plasma BNP demonstrate an early, transient increase in concentrations following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), ...

A 74-year-old man with metastatic renal cell carcinoma and a history of cardiac failure was treated with sunitinib malate. MUGA echocardiography could not detect a relevant change in the ejection fraction although the clinical situation of the patient worsened dramatically. The only parameter to hint at the deteriorated cardiac function was plasma N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (BNP)....

BACKGROUND The myocardium secretes B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) in response to stimuli associated with heart failure (HF). However, high immunoreactive-BNP levels in patients with HF are associated with a paradoxical lack of natriuretic response. We hypothesized that commercially available assays for immunoreactive BNP do not reflect the bioactivity of the natriuretic peptide system, becaus...