The Utility of Measurement of Plasma N-terminal Pro-brain Natriuretic Peptide in Diagnosis of Pulmonary Hypertension

Abstract

Background: Pulmonary hypertension is a poor prognostic factor in patients with chronic respiratory disease. However, diagnosing pulmonary hypertension is a difficult procedure which often requires an invasive test. Thus new alternative biochemical markers would be useful in clinical field and are in search. We sought to assess the role of plasma N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide(NT-proBNP) in patients with pulmonary hypertension. Method: We measured plasma NT-proBNP level in twenty nine patients suspected for pulmonary hypertension. Pulmonary hypertension was defined as being right ventricular systolic pressure more than 35 mm Hg estimated by Doppler echocardiography. Plasma NT-proBNP level was measured by electrochemiluminescence sandwich immunoassay. Results: The log-transformed values for plasma NT-proBNP levels showed a linear correlation (correlation coefficiency: 0.783, p-value <0.001) with right ventricular systolic pressure. Plasma NT-proBNP levels closely correlated with right ventricular systolic pressure, right ventricular hypertrophy, interventricular septal flattening and right ventricular dilatation. Conclusion: Our results suggest that the measurement of plasma NT-proBNP level is an useful marker of the presence of pulmonary hypertension.