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Aminoterminal Brain Natriuretic Peptide Levels in Children and Adolescents After Fontan Operation Correlate with Congestive Heart Failure

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to generate normal values of amino-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-pro-BNP) in children and adolescents after Fontan operation without congestive heart failure (CHF) and to test the hypothesis that plasma levels of NT-pro-BNP correlate with the clinical severity of CHF. NT-pro-BNP plasma levels of 59 consecutive patients, with a median age of 8.4 years, after Fontan operation were measured using an automated enzyme immunoassay. The 97.5th percentile of NT-pro-BNP in patients without CHF was 282.3 pg/ml. The severity of heart failure was quantified by a pediatric cardiologist using the New York University Pediatric Heart Failure Index (NYUPHFI). NT-pro-BNP levels correlated with the NYUPHFI (p = 0.001). In patients with CHF (14/59) the NT-pro-BNP levels were significantly higher (median, 399 pg/ml; range, 140–5440 pg/ml) than in patients without CHF (median, 96 pg/ml; range, 11–376 pg/ml). NT-pro-BNP levels of patients with Fontan circulation without CHF are similar to those of healthy children. Plasma NT-pro-BNP concentrations correlate with the severity of CHF in children and adolescents after Fontan operation. Plasma NT-pro-BNP levels can help clinicians in the detection of CHF in pediatric patients with Fontan circulation.

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Acknowledgment

The authors express their gratitude to the Upper Austrian Medical Society for financial support of the statistical analysis of the data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pediatric Cardiology, Children’s Heart Center Linz, Krankenhausstrausse 26, A4020, Linz, Austria

    Evelyn Lechner, Roland Gitter, Miklos Pinter & Gerald Tulzer

  2. Unit of Congenital Cardiac Sugery, Children’s Heart Center Linz, Krankenhausstrausse 26, A4020, Linz, Austria

    Rudolf Mair & David Vondrys

  3. Clinical Laboratory, Maternity and Children’s Hospital, Linz, Austria

    Elisabeth Schreier-Lechner

Authors
  1. Evelyn Lechner
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  2. Roland Gitter
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  3. Rudolf Mair
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  4. Miklos Pinter
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  5. Elisabeth Schreier-Lechner
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  6. David Vondrys
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  7. Gerald Tulzer
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Correspondence to Evelyn Lechner.

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Lechner, E., Gitter, R., Mair, R. et al. Aminoterminal Brain Natriuretic Peptide Levels in Children and Adolescents After Fontan Operation Correlate with Congestive Heart Failure. Pediatr Cardiol 29, 901–905 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00246-008-9225-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00246-008-9225-0

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