Tissue Doppler imaging and brain natriuretic peptide levels in adults with repaired tetralogy of Fallot

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of BNP (Nesiritide), published as a clinical trial.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate RV systolic and diastolic function of adult asymptomatic patients with RTOF by means of tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) values.

Why It Was Studied

Accurate estimation of right ventricular (RV) function in patients with repaired tetralogy of Fallot (RTOF) is difficult, partly due to the presence of tricuspid regurgitation and pulmonary regurgitation and/or stenosis.

Who Took Part

The study group was 25 patients.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were teenagers and adults, both men and women.

The following echocardiographic measurements were obtained: RV diameter/left ventricular (LV) diameter (RVD/LVD) and systolic (Sa) and diastolic (Ea, Aa) velocities at the RV free wall tricuspid annulus site.

How the Study Was Run

Serum BNP levels were measured as well.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Echocardiography, Doppler, Pulsed, Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted, Natriuretic Peptide, Brain, Reproducibility of Results, Sensitivity and Specificity, Tetralogy of Fallot and Ventricular Dysfunction, Right.

What This Means in Plain Language

This is a clinical trial of BNP (Nesiritide) in 25 patients.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 5 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2005 (Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography : official publication of the American Society of Echocardiography), a journal based in United States.

More context: the BNP (Nesiritide) compound page, all human trials.