BACKGROUND In spite of the introduction of mild therapeutic hypothermia (MTH), mortality rates remain high in patients with return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) after cardiac arrest (CA). To date, no accurate and independent biomarker to predict survival in these patients exists. B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) was found to provide both prognostic and diagnostic value in various cardiovasc...

Common complications of pregnancy include preeclampsia (PE), gestational hypertension (GH) and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Hypertensive disorders (PE/GH) and GDM may result in greater maternal, fetal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. Women with PE/GH, one of the most common causes of heart burden in an obstetrical setting, present with elevated serum levels of BNP and NT-proBNP. Th...

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...

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...

OBJECTIVE This study evaluated the relationship between individual components in metabolic syndrome (MetS) and amino-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP). METHODS A screening program for MetS in 2008 in Taiwan excluded subjects aged <30 years and pregnant women. Fasting glucose, insulin level, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), and NT-proBNP were assessed. A propensity...