Brain natriuretic peptide and left ventricular dysfunction in Chagas' disease

Brain natriuretic peptide and left ventricular dysfunction in chagasic cardiomyopathy

“…For this reason, the development of a simple and inexpensive detection method for left ventricular dysfunction in Chagas disease is desirable. At least one study has demonstrated the potential of BNP as a sensitive and specific tool in the diagnosis of heart failure in patients with CCC (Ribeiro et al 2002b). In the present study, we expand and confirm this previous observation and describe the marked correlation between plasma concentrations of BNP and indices of heart function in chagasic individuals.…”

“…Patients with milder forms of Chagas cardiomyopathy showed slightly elevated concentrations of BNP, when compared to controls (see Fig. 1B), confirming that there is a progressive elevation of BNP levels with decreasing left ventricular performance (Ribeiro et al 2002b). Thus, our studies clearly demonstrate the correlation between BNP levels and the severity of heart failure of chagasic etiology, as it has been demonstrated for heart failure due to other diseases (de Lemos et al 2001.…”

“…Indeed, the negative predictive value of 98% indicates that a low BNP value indicates a very low probability of LV dysfunction. Moreover, we confirmed that the ideal cutoff point of BNP levels might vary with the measurement method employed and with the outcome of interest (Ribeiro et al 2002b.…”

“…Recently, our group demonstrated that an elevation of BNP concentration in blood was a reliable indicator of systolic left ventricular dysfunction. In patients with abnormal electrocardiogram (ECG) and/or chest XRay, BNP elevation had a positive predictive value of 80% and a negative predictive value of 97% to diagnose left ventricular dysfunction (Ribeiro et al 2002b). The present study had two main objectives.…”

Value of the radiological study of the thorax for diagnosing left ventricular dysfunction in Chagas' disease

“…Measurement of the type B natriuretic peptide is an important marker of left ventricular dysfunction in nonchagasic patients 26 , and it may also be a useful tool in the initial evaluation of patients with Chagas' disease. Data obtained in our study indicate that the method has an excellent diagnostic performance in detecting left ventricular dysfunction in chagasic patients 27 . Because of the high prevalence of Chagas' disease among us, cost-benefit studies could quantify the medical, social, and economic impact of the application of different approaches in the initial evaluation of these patients.…”