BACKGROUND In chronic heart failure (CHF), elevated pulmonary microvascular pressure (P(mv)) results in pulmonary edema. Because elevated P(mv) may alter the integrity of the alveolocapillary barrier, allowing leakage of surfactant protein-B (SP-B) from the alveoli into the circulation, we aimed to determine plasma levels of SP-B in CHF and their relation to clinical status. METHODS AND RESUL...

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is an important cause of heart failure in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The pro brain natriuretic peptide N-terminal (NT-proBNP) has been suggested as a noninvasive marker to evaluate ventricular function. However, there is no evidence to support the use of NT-proBNP in monitoring the benefits of vasodilators in COPD induced PH. Thus, we used NT-proBN...

OBJECTIVES This study sought to compare the renal clearance mechanisms of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and amino terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP). BACKGROUND The small molecular weight proteins (SMWPs) BNP and NT-proBNP both inversely correlate with glomerular filtration rate (GFR). Whether this association is causal or confounding is unknown and has been the basis of w...

The study aims to evaluate a rapid testing of NT-proBNP in differential diagnosis of cardiac and pulmonary dyspnea among elderly emergency patients. Two hundred sixty-eight dyspnea patients with ages of ≥60 years old participated in the study. Based on their clinical diagnosis, the patients were divided into three groups: group A diagnosed with pulmonary dyspnea (PD), group B diagnosed with con...

BACKGROUND We compared the diagnostic accuracy of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and amino-terminal proBNP (NT-proBNP) for diagnosis of preclinical and mild heart failure (HF). METHODS We assayed plasma NT-proBNP and BNP in 182 healthy controls and in a prospective cohort of 820 HF patients divided according to the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology classification. The...

BACKGROUND B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) is a marker for ventricular dysfunction secreted as a pre-prohormone, pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (proBNP), and cleaved into BNP and a biologically inactive fragment, N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP). Little is known about the clinical usefulness of NT-proBNP in preterm infants. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the usefulness of plasma ...

N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) is a product of cleavage of the cardiac prohormone pro B-type natriuretic peptide into its active form. It has proven to be a useful biomarker in left heart failure. However, studies examining the utility of serial measurements of NT-proBNP in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) patients have shown mixed results. We compared three methods ...

I. Overview of Analytical Issues for Heart Failure Biomarkers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .e95 A. Background. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .e95 II. Analytical Biomarker Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .e96 A. Issues Related to B-Type Natriuretic Peptide (BNP) and N-Terminal proB-Type Natriuretic Peptide (NTproBNP) Measure...

n-terminal pro β-type natriuretic peptide (nt-probnp) is a valuable marker for monitoring the response to treatment in patients with heart failure. based on the clinically observed improvement of heart failure symptoms early after cardiac resynchronization therapy (crt), we sought to investigate whether crt induce any significant reduction in the plasma level of nt-probnp in three days after im...

BACKGROUND The value of routine aminoterminal pro type B natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) measurements in outpatient clinics remains unknown. OBJECTIVES We sought to determine the accuracy with which heart failure (HF) specialists can predict NT-proBNP levels in HF outpatients based on clinical assessment. METHODS We prospectively studied 160 consecutive HF patients followed in an outpatient...