The aim of this study was to explore the effect of atorvastatin intervention on plasma N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and inflammatory cytokine levels in patients with heart failure (HF). One hundred and twenty-three HF patients were selected from our hospital and randomly divided into control (N = 61) and observation (N = 62) groups; the former received conventional trea...

INTRODUCTION New markers of cardiac events and new monitoring methods which can improve care of patients with advanced heart failure (HF) are still being looked for. MATERIAL AND METHODS Sixty-five patients below 75 years old (mean age: 60.34 ±9.54 years), hospitalized with the first manifestation of HF (left ventricular ejection fraction ≤ 40%) and New York Heart Association (NYHA) class II-...

BACKGROUND/AIMS N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) has recently been introduced as a useful marker in diagnosing underlying disease in patients with dyspnea and for determining the prognosis of patients with heart failure. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the value of the NT-proBNP as a marker of disease severity in patients with pericardial effusions. METHODS We e...

N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) can be a useful marker for left ventricular (LV) dysfunction in patients without kidney disease. This study was conducted to clarify the relationship between NT-proBNP and LV systolic function in patients with decreased renal function. We studied 256 chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients, patients on dialysis were excluded. The median glomeru...

AIM The cardiothoracic ratio (CTR) on a chest X-ray is an indicator of cardiac enlargement, although its predictive power for cardiovascular disease (CVD) events in chronic kidney disease is unknown. We examined it in a cohort of hemodialysis patients, as compared with an N-terminal fragment of probrain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP). METHOD This was an observational study with cross-section...

BACKGROUND It is unclear whether coronary artery stenosis affects the secretion of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) from the heart independent of ventricular dysfunction. Therefore, this study evaluated the relationship between BNP and NT-proBNP secretion, plasma levels and the severity of coronary artery stenosis in patients with stable c...

AIM To investigate the association between plasma concentrations of N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and formation of esophageal varices. METHODS Thirty-five patients with alcoholic cirrhosis were divided into three groups according to the Child-Pugh classification: grade A (n=11, 32%), B (n=12, 34%), and C (n=12, 34%). System hemodynamic parameters were measured using sp...

OBJECTIVE Quantify the independent value of NT-proBNP in predicting all-cause mortality for individual life insurance applicants and establish risk-based reference ranges. METHOD By use of the Social Security Death Master File and multivariate analysis, relative mortality was determined for 144,027 life insurance applicants tested (almost all routinely rather than for cause) for NT-proBNP alo...

BACKGROUND Although surgical treatment for tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) has been used with considerable success, right ventricular function may remain altered after repair. The NT-proBNP assessment has been shown to be a reliable parameter for the heart failure assessment. AIM To determine NT-proBNP values in assessment of right ventricular function in children after TOF correction. METHODS In...

BACKGROUND In the elderly the diagnosis of chronic heart failure is often challenging and the availability of echocardiography can be limited. Plasma levels of NT-proBNP are valuable tools to diagnose patients with heart failure. However, the performance of this biomarker to detect cardiac abnormalities in the very elderly remains unclear. The aims of this study were to investigate the relation...