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Abstract

B-type natriuretic peptide is released from the cardiac ventricles in response to increased wall tension. We conducted a prospective study of 1586 patients who came to the emergency department with acute dyspnea and whose B-type natriuretic peptide was measured with a bedside assay. The clinical diagnosis of congestive heart failure was adjudicated by two independent cardiologists, who were blinded to the results of the B-type natriuretic peptide assay. The final diagnosis was dyspnea due to congestive heart failure in 744 patients (47 percent), dyspnea due to noncardiac causes in 72 patients with a history of left ventricular dysfunction (5 percent), and no finding of congestive heart failure in 770 patients (49 percent). B-type natriuretic peptide levels by themselves were more accurate than any historical or physical findings or laboratory values in identifying congestive heart failure as the cause of dyspnea. The diagnostic accuracy of B-type natriuretic peptide at a cutoff of 100 pg per milliliter was 83.4 percent. The negative predictive value of B-type natriuretic peptide at levels of less than 50 pg per milliliter was 96 percent. In multiple logistic-regression analysis, measurements of B-type natriuretic peptide added significant independent predictive power to other clinical variables in models predicting which patients had congestive heart failure. Used in conjunction with other clinical information, rapid measurement of B-type natriuretic peptide is useful in establishing or excluding the diagnosis of congestive heart failure in patients with acute dyspnea. Copyright 2002 Massachusetts Medical Society.

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The prognostic value of B-type natriuretic peptide in patients with acute coronary syndromes.

Carolyn McCabe, J. Kelley Bentley, Marc Sabatine … (2001)

Brain (B-type) natriuretic peptide is a neurohormone synthesized predominantly in ventricular myocardium. Although the circulating level of this neurohormone has been shown to provide independent prognostic information in patients with transmural myocardial infarction, few data are available for patients with acute coronary syndromes in the absence of ST-segment elevation. We measured B-type natriuretic peptide in plasma specimens obtained a mean (+/-SD) of 40+/-20 hours after the onset of ischemic symptoms in 2525 patients from the Orbofiban in Patients with Unstable Coronary Syndromes-Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction 16 study. The base-line level of B-type natriuretic peptide was correlated with the risk of death, heart failure, and myocardial infarction at 30 days and 10 months. The unadjusted rate of death increased in a stepwise fashion among patients in increasing quartiles of base-line B-type natriuretic peptide levels (P< 0.001). This association remained significant in subgroups of patients who had myocardial infarction with ST-segment elevation (P=0.02), patients who had myocardial infarction without ST-segment elevation (P<0.001), and patients who had unstable angina (P<0.001). After adjustment for independent predictors of the long-term risk of death, the odds ratios for death at 10 months in the second, third, and fourth quartiles of B-type natriuretic peptide were 3.8 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.1 to 13.3), 4.0 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.2 to 13.7), and 5.8 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.7 to 19.7). The level of B-type natriuretic peptide was also associated with the risk of new or recurrent myocardial infarction (P=0.01) and new or worsening heart failure (P<0.001) at 10 months. A single measurement of B-type natriuretic peptide, obtained in the first few days after the onset of ischemic symptoms, provides powerful information for use in risk stratification across the spectrum of acute coronary syndromes. This finding suggests that cardiac neurohormonal activation may be a unifying feature among patients at high risk for death after acute coronary syndromes.

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Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of chronic heart failure.

, Espen Remme, K Swedberg (2001)

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Localization and mechanism of secretion of B-type natriuretic peptide in comparison with those of A-type natriuretic peptide in normal subjects and patients with heart failure.

K Nakao, K Kugiyama, M Mukoyama … (1994)

B-type or brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) is a novel natriuretic peptide secreted from the heart that forms a peptide family with A-type or atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), and its plasma level has been shown to be increased in patients with congestive heart failure. This study was designed to examine the sources and mechanisms of the secretion of BNP in comparison with those of ANP in control subjects and in patients with heart failure. We measured the plasma levels of BNP as well as ANP in 16 patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (11 men and 5 women; mean age, 59 years) and 18 control subjects (9 men and 9 women; mean age, 54 years) by sampling blood from the femoral vein, the aortic root, the anterior interventricular vein (AIV), and the coronary sinus using the newly developed immunoradiometric assay systems. In the control subjects, there was no significant difference in the plasma ANP level between the aortic root and the AIV (24.0 +/- 5.2 pg/mL versus 32.2 +/- 17.0 pg/mL), but there was a highly significant step-up of the level between the AIV and the coronary sinus (32.2 +/- 17.0 pg/mL versus 371.4 +/- 111.1 pg/mL, P < .001). In contrast, there was a significant step-up of the plasma BNP level between the aortic root and the AIV (8.6 +/- 6.4 pg/mL versus 19.0 +/- 11.5 pg/mL, P < .01) but not between the AIV and the coronary sinus (19.0 +/- 11.5 pg/mL versus 28.8 +/- 14.0 pg/mL). On the other hand, in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy, there was a significant step-up in the plasma ANP level between the aortic root and the AIV (280.6 +/- 183.7 pg/mL versus 612.3 +/- 431.6 pg/mL, P < .01) and between the AIV and the coronary sinus (612.3 +/- 431.6 pg/mL versus 1229.0 +/- 772.7 pg/mL, P < .01). There was a significant step-up in the plasma BNP level between the aortic root and the AIV (268.4 +/- 293.2 pg/mL versus 511.6 +/- 458.1 pg/mL, P < .01) but not between the AIV and the coronary sinus (511.6 +/- 458.1 pg/mL versus 529.7 +/- 455.3 pg/mL) in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy. The arteriovenous difference at the AIV of the plasma level of BNP had a significant positive correlation with left ventricular end-systolic volume index (r = 0.859, P < .001) and a significant negative correlation with left ventricular ejection fraction (r = -.735, P < .001). We conclude that (1) BNP is secreted mainly from the left ventricle in normal adult humans as well as in patients with left ventricular dysfunction, whereas ANP is secreted from atria in normal adult humans and also from the left ventricle in patients with left ventricular dysfunction; (2) secretion of BNP as well as ANP from the left ventricle increases in proportion to the severity of the left ventricular dysfunction, suggesting that the secretions of ANP and BNP from the left ventricle are regulated mainly by wall tension of the left ventricle; and (3) the peripheral plasma levels of ANP and BNP reflect the secretion rate of these hormones from the left ventricle and may be used as a marker of the degree of left ventricular dysfunction in patients with left ventricular dysfunction.