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(Circulation. 2004;109:e9013-e9014.)
© 2004 American Heart Association, Inc.

Cardiovascular News

Ruth SoRelle, MPH

Circulation Newswriter

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

B-Type Natriuretic Peptide Assay Value Small in Assessing Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

Overlapping values among categories of heart failure severity and confounding variables of left ventricular wall thickness and age limit the value of plasma B-type natriuretic peptide in assessing patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, said researchers from Minnesota in a report in this week’s issue of the journal Circulation ( Circulation. 2004;109:984–989[Abstract/Free Full Text]).

In the study, led by Barry J. Maron, MD, of the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Center of the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation, researchers found that B-type natriuretic peptide had a statistically significant association to the degree of limitation suffered by 107 assessed patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The researchers noted that the marker had less value in distinguishing between patients with heart failure symptoms and those without than between those with no symptoms and those with severe symptoms.

They concluded that it is independently associated with the presence and magnitude of heart failure in this group of patients, but it has limitations. The researchers wrote, "Considerable variability in BNP [B-type natriuretic peptide] values among patients with different symptom magnitude, and the independent impact of confounding variables such as LV [left ventricular] wall thickness (and age), substantially restrict the practical clinical usefulness of BNP as a blood test marker for heart failure in HCM [hypertrophic cardiomyopathy]."

Clot Buster Plus Abciximab No Better Than Abciximab Alone in Percutaneous Coronary Intervention
Patients who received only abciximab fared as well as those who received abciximab along with the clot buster reteplase before undergoing a percutaneous intervention such as balloon angioplasty or stenting, said German researchers in a report in the February 25, 2004, issue of The Journal of . . . [Full Text of this Article]