title: Usefulness of brain natriuretic peptide as a marker for separating cardiac and noncardiac causes of syncope.
abstract: We retrospectively evaluated the feasibility of measuring brain natriuretic peptide to identify cardiac syncope in 148 consecutive patients with syncope. Sixty-one patients with cardiac syncope were identified. A cut-off value of 40 pg/ml was used to determine the cardiac causes of syncope; the sensitivity and specificity for identification of cardiac syncope were 82% and 92%, respectively. Thus, measurement of brain natriuretic peptide concentrations may help confirm cardiac causes of syncope, and merits consideration for incorporation into the algorithm used to diagnose syncope.
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Internal Medicine, Kagawa Medical University, Kagawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Kojiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tanimoto
authors.forename: Kazushi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yukiiri
authors.forename: Katsufumi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mizushige
authors.forename: Yuichiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takagi
authors.forename: Hisashi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Masugata
authors.forename: Kaori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shinomiya
authors.forename: Naohisa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hosomi
authors.forename: Tsutomu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ohmori
authors.forename: Masakazu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kohno
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000465:Algorithms; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000150:complications; D004452:Echocardiography; D004562:Electrocardiography; D015716:Electrocardiography, Ambulatory; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain / Q000097:blood*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013575:Syncope / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D019462:Syncope, Vasovagal / Q000175:diagnosis; D018667:Tilt-Table Test
chemical_list: D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain