Kawasaki disease (KD) is characterized as the leading cause of acquired cardiac disease in children. Accurate and timely diagnosis of KD is of high importance for preventing its cardiac complications. However, diagnosis merely based on clinical findings has a number of challenges and, limitations. Therefore, researchers are investigating to find more object...

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...

BACKGROUND The purpose of the present study was to assess the short-term effects of positive pressure ventilation (PPV) on plasma amino terminal-pro brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) and sleep apnea (SA). METHODS AND RESULTS Polysomnography was performed in 105 CHF patients. Twenty-six patients with CHF and SA were randomly assigned t...

background: n-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (nt-probnp) is a sensitive biomarker for the detection of asymptomatic left ventricular (lv) dysfunction. since β-thalassemia major patients suffer from early diastolic dysfunction due to iron deposition of chronic blood transfusion, we tried to evaluate the correlation between the serum nt-probnp level and the severity of lv diastolic dysfun...

We have evaluated N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (Nt-proBNP) as a diagnostic and prognostic plasma biomarker in dogs with asymptomatic and symptomatic myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD). One hundred and twenty-nine dogs with MMVD and 61 healthy dogs were followed from August 2006 to May 2008. Clinical end points were death or progression of the disease. Nt-proBNP concentrations we...

BACKGROUND Serum N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) is regarded as a sensitive marker of cardiovascular disease. Vascular disease plays an important role in cognitive impairment. METHOD In 447 elderly patients with mental illness, serum NT-proBNP level and the presence or absence of vascular disease according to the medical record were used to categorize patients in differen...

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...

OBJECTIVES Our aim was assess the prognostic value of midregional pro-atrial natriuretic peptide (MR-proANP) using a new immunoassay in patients with chronic heart failure (HF). BACKGROUND Assessment of natriuretic peptides represents a useful addition in establishing the diagnosis of chronic HF. Their plasma values are powerful predictors of survival in chronic HF. METHODS We assessed MR-p...

Background The present study aims to examine the oxidative stress-related activation of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), a cause of parthanatos in circulating mononuclear leukocytes of patients with chronic heart failure (CHF), that was rarely investigated in the human setting yet. Methods Patients with CHF (n = 20) and age- and body mass index-matched volunteers (n = 15) with a normal hea...

A 55-year-old woman presented with progressive heart failure symptoms and was diagnosed by endomyocardial biopsy with light chain amyloidosis. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at baseline showed slightly increased wall thickness of the right and left ventricles and abnormal nulling of the myocardium with a dark blood pool (Figure A) on postgadolinium images, consistent with amyloidosis. Baselin...