부산대학교 도서관

Aim: We aimed to study connection between plasma B-type natiuretic peptide (BNP) and type of left ventricle remodeling (LVR) in patients with properly treated hypertension, to assess its value as a screening parameter. Our priority was to exclude patients with any other cause of LVR or BNP increase.Methods: The study group included 264 patients treated for arterial hypertension by general practitioners. Exclusion criteria were: history of myocardial infarction; significant valvular heart disease; ejection fraction <50%, atrial fibrillation and diagnosed heart failure. Most patients took on average two different hypertensive drugs. All patients have been through clinical examinations, transthoracic echocardiogram and measuring BNP in venous blood. Based on left ventricular mass index (LVMI) (110 g/m2 for women; 125 g/m2 for men) and relative wall thickness (RWT) (0,4) patients were assigned to one form of left ventricular geometry: normal (N), concentric remodeling (CR), concentric hypertrophy (CH) or eccentric hypertrophy (EH).Results: 35% of pts had normal left ventricular geometry. The most frequent forms of remodeling was CR and CH (22% of pts each). EH occurred at 21% of cases. The mean level of BNP in population was 63 pg/ml, and in groups respectively: N – 54,1pg/ml; CR – 54,9pg/ml; CH – 60 pg/ml; EH – 89,7 pg/ml. No differences was observed (p=0,16). Correlations between BNP and left atrium dimension (r=0,14) and Eʼ velocity speed (r=-0,14) were noted, but correlation with LVMI and RTW was not observed.Conclusions: There were no differences in the BNP levels in patients with various forms of LVR. Its measurement cannot be consider an alternative to imaging techniques in patients with treated hypertension.