AIMS Diastolic heart failure is a frequent entity but difficult to diagnose. N-terminal pro-B type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) was therefore investigated as a possible non-invasive parameter to diagnose isolated diastolic dysfunction. METHODS AND RESULTS Sixty-eight symptomatic patients with isolated diastolic dysfunction and preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) (> or =50%)...

BACKGROUND Vitamin D deficiency is associated with heightened risk of cardiovascular disease. Potential mechanisms include involvement of vitamin D in regulation of renin-angiotensin system and manufacture and secretion of cardiac natriuretic peptides. Our aim was to document relationships between 25 hydroxyvitamin [25(OH)D] and N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and plasma r...

Background B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) is a cardiac neurohormone that is secreted from the left ventricle in response to volume and pressure overload as occurs in patients with congestive heart failure. NT-proBNP has now become a useful tool in the diagnosis of congestive heart failure and in the management of patients with acute dyspnea. In recent years, several studies showed that ...

AIMS To study the relative prognostic value of N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) monitoring in addition to clinical disease severity scores (CDSSs) in outpatients with destabilized heart failure (HF). METHODS AND RESULTS Seventy-one outpatients with recently destabilized HF were recruited. At baseline, and at all following visits, a CDSS based on Framingham criteria was ob...

BACKGROUND Amino terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) is a sensitive marker of ventricular dysfunction. Exercise causes an increase in the secretion of NTproBNP, and with myocardial ischaemia the increase is more pronounced. This increase has been found to improve the diagnostic sensitivity of the stress ECG in diagnosing myocardial ischaemia in subjects with normal ventricular f...

AIMS Natriuretic peptides including N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) are established biomarkers in heart failure. However, their prognostic value in the general population is less well established. The purpose of our study was to investigate the prognostic properties of NT-proBNP for death and cardiovascular (CV) events in the general population. METHODS AND RESULTS In th...

OBJECTIVES This study sought to characterize factors influencing amino-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and to evaluate the ability of NT-proBNP to detect left ventricular (LV) dysfunction in a large community sample. BACKGROUND Secretion of BNP increases in cardiac disease, making BNP an attractive biomarker. Amino-terminal proBNP, a fragment of the BNP prohormone, is a ne...

BACKGROUND The heterogeneity of circulating peptides may influence the interpretation of results from N-terminal profragment of BNP (NT-proBNP) assays. Our objective was to characterize the heterogeneity for better usability of the assays. METHODS Endogenous proBNP was purified from patient samples and treated with trifluoromethanesulfonic acid (chemical deglycosylation). The human proBNP gen...

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate BNP and NT-proBNP to: (a) identify determinants, (b) establish their diagnostic performance in heart failure (HF) patients, (c) determine their predictive ability with respect to mortality and other cardiac endpoints, and (d) determine their value in monitoring HF treatment. DATA SOURCES MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Cochrane Central...

Currently, new biomarkers like N-Terminal-Pro-B-Type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) have been used in the differential diagnosis of pleural effusions. In our study, we aimed to investigate the diagnostic value of NT-proBNP, especially in cardiac originated pleural effusions. Forty-five patients with pleural effusions were included in the study. NT-proBNP levels and biochemical markers involved...