BACKGROUND Congestive heart failure is misdiagnosed clinically 50% to 75% of the time. B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) concentrations have shown to be useful in the diagnosis of heart failure in addition to having prognostic and therapeutic monitoring value. Studies were evaluated for validity and potential value of BNP measurements for managing patients with heart failure. METHODS A literat...

†Departments of Paediatrics, ‡Medicine, §Chemical Pathology, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Nigeria. *Correspondence: E. N. Ekure, Departments of Paediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Nigeria. Email addresses: ENE: [email protected] CAN: [email protected] JNA: [email protected] AM: [email protected] JO: [email protected] Abbreviations: CHF, Congestive...

OBJECTIVES This study was designed to characterize the importance of echocardiographic indexes, including newer indexes of diastolic function, as determinants of plasma B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels in patients with systolic heart failure (SHF). BACKGROUND Plasma BNP levels have utility for diagnosing and managing heart failure. However, there is significant heterogeneity in BNP lev...

Objective: To test the hypothesis that myocardium specific proteins may be useful markers for evaluating the severity of congestive heart failure. Methods: Serum concentrations of myosin light chain I (MLC-I), heart fatty acid binding protein (H-FABP), creatine kinase isoenzyme MB (CK-MB), and troponin T (TnT) and plasma concentrations of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) were determined in 48 pa...

Heart failure is known for alteration of cardiac catecholamine responsiveness involving adrenergic receptor (AR) down-regulation. Trimetazidine, a metabolically active anti-ischemic drug, accelerates the turnover of phospholipids. The present study evaluated the consequences of trimetazidine treatment (supposed to increase phospholipid synthesis) on AR in heart failure in rats. In control rats,...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to investigate the potential role of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels in the assessment of functional status and right heart performance in primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH). BACKGROUND Primary pulmonary hypertension is a progressive disease leading to right heart failure and death. Right heart catheterization and maximal or submaximal exercise te...

Recent studies report that, in the absence of heart failure and renal failure, plasma B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) has prognostic value for mortality. We sought to confirm and extend these previous studies to assess BNP, measured by 3 distinct assays, as a biomarker for mortality in a strategy to enhance efforts at primary prevention and to better understand the clinical phenotype of such s...

1. Mair J, Hammerer-Lercher A, Puschendorf B. The impact of cardiac natriuretic peptide determination on the diagnosis and management of heart failure [Review]. Clin Chem Lab Med 2001;39:571–88. 2. Mir TS, Laux R, Hellwege HH, Liedke B, Heinze C, von Buelow H, et al. Plasma concentrations of aminoterminal pro atrial natriuretic peptide and aminoterminal pro brain natriuretic peptide in healthy ...

OBJECTIVES We examined whether measurement of the plasma BNP concentrations might be useful for the early diagnosis of the existence and severity of disease in patients with heart disease in daily clinical practice. METHODS AND RESULTS The plasma BNP and ANP concentrations in 415 patients with heart disease and hypertension and 65 control subjects were measured. Patients with heart disease ha...

PLASMA NOREPINEPHRINE CONCENTRATIONS, which increase in patients with congestive heart failure, reflect the severity of the disease and are closely related to prognosis.1 Because sympathetic activity is enhanced with increasing severity of congestive heart failure, the severity and prognosis of congestive heart failure can be evaluated based on parameters determined by I-123 metaiodobenzylguani...