title: NT-pro-BNP for differential diagnosis in patients with syncope.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Syncope is a frequent diagnosis and establishing the etiology is often elaborate. Aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of NT-pro-BNP in patients with syncope.
  
  
  METHODS
  NT-pro-BNP was assessed in 61 patients admitted for syncope to our cardiological department of the University hospital Cologne, Germany.
  
  
  RESULTS
  16 patients (26.2%) had neurally-mediated syncope, 9 (14.8%) had orthostatic syncope, 12 (19.7%) had cardiac arrhythmias, 8 (13.1%) had structural cardiac/cardiopulmonary disease, 2 patients (3.3%) had cerebrovascular disease, 3 (4.9%) had non-syncopal attack and in 11 (18%) patients the cause remained unknown. Patients with cardiac syncope had significantly higher NT-pro-BNP values (514 IQR 286-1154 pg/ml) than patients with non-cardiac cause (182 IQR 70-378 pg/ml, p=0.001). NT-pro-BNP at a cut-off of 164 pg/ml identified patients with cardiac syncope and patients requiring interventional cardiological therapy with a sensitivity of 90% and 93.8%, a specificity of 48.8% and 46.7% and a negative predictive value of 91% and 95.5%. NT-pro-BNP pre-testing could save 45% of the Holter ECGs, 83% of the telemetry monitoring, 47% of stress tests, 49% of echocardiographies, 67% of coronary angiographies and 43% of electrophysiological examinations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  NT-pro-BNP assessment was helpful in differentiating cardiac from non-cardiac syncope. Further studies are needed to define the role of NT-pro-BNP in the diagnostic algorithm of syncope.
authors.affiliation: Department III of Internal Medicine, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany. roman.pfister@uk-koeln.de
authors.forename: Roman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pfister
authors.forename: Holger
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Diedrichs
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Larbig
authors.forename: Erland
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Erdmann
authors.forename: Christian A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Schneider
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004452:Echocardiography; D015716:Electrocardiography, Ambulatory; D022062:Electrophysiologic Techniques, Cardiac; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain / Q000097:blood*; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000097:blood*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012372:ROC Curve; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013575:Syncope / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology*; D013686:Telemetry
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D010446:Peptide Fragments; C109794:pro-brain natriuretic peptide (1-76); D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain