A Case Control Study of The Role of N-Terminal Pro Brain Natriuretic Peptide in Diagnosing Heart Failure

Brain natriuretic peptides are released from the ventricles in response to volume overload or pressure overload. This case control study was performed to understand the role of plasma N-Terminal pro Brain Natriuretic peptide (N-TproBNP) in diagnosing HF. Methodology: We included 32 patients with clinical features of cardiac failure who presented to the outpatient clinic of Department of Medicine and Emergency Department of Yashoda Hospital, Hyderabad between November 2005 to October 2007 and equal number of age and sex matched healthy. We obtained clinical history of the patient and plasma sample to measure N-T pro BNP. Rresults:Average N-T pro BNP in cases was 3179 pg/ml and in controls was 103 pg/ml. Majority of the patients had long standing hypertension and ischemic cardiomyopathy was the commonest cause of HF in our patient population. Mean N-T pro BNP was found to be higher in females (3481 pg/mL) as compared to males (2934 pg/mL). Systolic dysfunction (3316 pg/mL) raised the N-T pro BNP more than diastolic dysfunction. Higher the degree of HF according to New York Heart Association classification was associated with higher N-T pro BNP using competitive enzyme immunoassay technique. Collected data was analysed using appropriate statistical tests. Conclusions: This study showed that plasma N-T pro BNP can be taken as a good marker for the diagnosis of cardiac failure in emergency setting. Future research should focus on the prognostic value of plasma N-T pro BNP.