Evaluation of plasma natriuretic peptides as markers for left ventricular dysfunction☆,☆☆
Section snippets
Study protocol
Two hundred twenty-one consecutive patients (155 men, 66 women, aged 56 to 77 years) undergoing diagnostic cardiac catheterization at our clinic for known or suspected heart disease were included in this study. Of these patients 43.7% were smokers, 59.3% had a history of hypertension, and 17.0% had diabetes. They were undergoing treatment with acetyl salicylic acid (73.5%), β-blockers (67.4%), angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (37.6%), nitrates (44.3%), calcium-channel blockers (21.3%),
Patient characteristics
The age of the 221 study patients ranged from 56 to 77 years (mean 60.3 ± 10.3 years). Cardiac catheterization revealed no apparent heart disease in 23 (10.4%) normotensive persons who served as controls in this study. Hypertension without coronary artery disease was diagnosed in 26 (11.8%). Coronary artery disease was found in 156 (70.6%) patients. Of those, 35 had previously had an anterior myocardial infarction, and 36 had a myocardial infarction not involving the anterior wall. Diagnosis of
Discussion
This study was designed to assess the diagnostic value of plasma levels of circulating natriuretic peptides as noninvasive indicators of cardiac dysfunction. Candidates for whom the measurement of cardiac natriuretic levels might be useful as a screening method for LV dysfunction, would be asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic patients with a history of previous myocardial infarction and patients with nonspecific symptoms or signs compatible with heart failure. Therefore the evaluation for
Acknowledgements
We thank Mrs. Ingrid Kirst for her excellent technical assistance.
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Reprint requests: Frank Muders, MD, Klinik und Poliklinik für Innere Medizin II, Universitätsklinikum, 93042 Regensburg, Germany.
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0002-8703/97/$5.00 + 0 4/1/83535