title: Association of plasma B-type natriuretic peptide levels with shunt size in young adults with atrial septal defect.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study was designed to investigate the validity of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels for the estimation of the shunt size in young adults with atrial septal defect (ASD), and to determine the relationship between BNP levels and echocardiographic parameters of right heart chambers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty-six patients with ASD (mean age 22.9 ± 2.0 years) were studied. The control group consisted of 31 age-gender matched healthy volunteers (mean age 22.7 ± 1.9 years). Coventional echocardiography, tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) and plasma BNP level measurement was performed in all participants. The ratio of pulmonary to systemic blood flow (Qp/Qs) was measured noninvasively using transthoracic echocardiography.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Plasma BNP levels were significantly higher in ASD patients than in controls (42.9 ± 29.4 vs. 8.3 ± 2.6 pg/mL, P < 0.05). Pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) (P = 0.0001), right atrium (RA) volume (P = 0.0001), and right ventricular end-diastolic volume (RVEDV) (P = 0.0001) values were higher in ASD patients. There was a powerful correlation between plasma BNP levels and Qp/Qs ratio (r = 0.71, P < 0.0001). The plasma BNP levels significantly correlated with PAP (r = 0.61, P < 0.0001), RA volume (r = 0.54, P < 0.0001), RVEDV (r = 0.55, P < 0.0001), and right ventricular myocardial performance index (r = 0.50, P < 0.0001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study shows that there is a significant correlation between right heart echocardiographic parameters and concentrations of BNP in the plasma of young adults with ASD. BNP levels may provide a supplemental data to predict of shunt size in these patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, GATA HEH Training Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey. homeruz@gmail.com, homeruz@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Omer
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Uz
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aparcı
authors.forename: Gurkan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Acar
authors.forename: Ejder
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kardesoglu
authors.forename: Onur
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kaplan
authors.forename: Omer
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Yiginer
authors.forename: Zafer
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Isilak
authors.forename: Fatih
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ozcelik
authors.forename: Bekir Sitki
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Cebeci
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006344:Heart Septal Defects, Atrial / Q000097:blood* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain / Q000097:blood*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014463:Ultrasonography; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain