The Signifi cance of Brain Natriuretic Peptide Levels in the Critically Ill

Brain natriuretic peptide levels (BNP) have been best studied in the heart failure (HF) literature and has been increasingly used in the critical care population as an estimate of cardiac function. BNP is secreted by cardiomyocytes in response to an increase in transmural ventricular pressure. The measurement of BNP is well known in the cardiac literature. Studies in the critical care population have looked at measuring BNP in different subsets of patients with sepsis, pulmonary embolism (PE), acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS),