Background: Both B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and N-terminal pro-BNP (NT-proBNP) are useful biomarkers for the assessment of congestive heart failure (CHF) in adults. The purpose of this study was to determine whether BNP and NT-proBNP levels could be used to stratify the severity of CHF in children.
Methods and Results:The study comprised 181 children with CHF and 232 healthy children aged from 4 months to 14 years who were categorized into CHF grades I, II, III and IV according to the modified Ross scoring system. The plasma BNP and serum NT-proBNP levels were significantly correlated with increasing CHF grades. The NT-proBNP levels were significantly different among the 4 CHF grades. However, only 2 significant differences were observed in the BNP levels between each CHF grade. NT-proBNP testing with cut-off points of >438 pg/ml (≥grade II), >1,678 pg/ml (≥grade III) and >7,734 pg/ml (grade IV) in the patients below 3 years of age, and >295 pg/ml (≥grade II), >1,545 pg/ml (≥grade III) and >3,617 pg/ml (grade IV) in those above 3 years of age was determined to be highly sensitive and specific by receiver operating characteristic analysis.
Conclusions:The blood levels of BNP and NT-proBNP therefore reflect the severity of CHF in children. In particular, NT-proBNP is a useful biomarker for evaluating CHF in children. (Circ J 2010; 74: 998 - 1005)
This study clearly demonstrated that LS was significantly increased after the Fontan procedure and that CVP was a predictor of LS. MRE is a highly sensitive tool that can evaluate liver fibrosis in children who undergo the Fontan procedure and enable earlier detection of LS than biomarkers.
Background: Cardiac troponin I (cTnI) is currently considered to be the most sensitive and specific biochemical marker of acute coronary syndrome and acute myocardial infarction. However, few reports have described the use of cTnI assays for evaluating abnormal hemodynamic load in children with congenital heart disease (CHD). It was hypothesized that significant hemodynamic overload due to a left-to-right shunt induces myocardial injury.
Methods and Results:A highly sensitive cTnI assay was used to measure the serum cTnI levels in 30 children with atrial septal defect (ASD), 32 children with ventricular septal defect (VSD), and 350 healthy children. Cardiac catheterization was performed in the children with ASD and VSD to determine the ratio of pulmonary to systemic blood flow, the ratio of pulmonary to systemic arterial pressure (Pp/Ps), the pulmonary vascular resistance index, and the right and left ventricular end-diastolic volume. Serum cTnI levels in both the ASD and VSD children were significantly higher than those in healthy children (P<0.05 and P<0.01, respectively). Furthermore, serum cTnI levels significantly correlated with Pp/Ps (r=0.745, P<0.001) in VSD children.Conclusions: Significant volume and pressure overload due to a left-to-right shunt induce myocardial injury and might eventually cause irreversible myocardial remodeling in children with CHD. The serum cTnI level is a useful biomarker for evaluating myocardial damage associated with pulmonary hypertension in VSD children. (Circ J 2011; 75: 2213 - 2219
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Oral dosing with bosentan and tadalafil in children may not achieve therapeutic blood concentration. Thus, the optimal dosing must be established individually while monitoring blood drug level.
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