Brain natriuretic peptide in hemodynamically stable acute pulmonary embolism

What Was Tested

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

The objective of this study was to determine the predictive value of elevated BNP levels for early recurrent venous thromboembolism with or without fatal outcome in hemodynamically stable patients with acute PE.

In addition, the researchers assessed the potential clinical consequences of initiating thrombolytic therapy based on the BNP levels alone.

Why It Was Studied

Controversy exists about the indication of thrombolytic therapy in the subgroup of hemodynamically stable patients with acute pulmonary embolism (PE) and right ventricular dysfunction.

Brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) is excreted from the cardiac ventricles in response to cardiomyocyte stretch and can be measured with an easy-to-perform blood test.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 2213 patients taking part.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were middle-aged adults and older adults.

A nested case-control study was performed within the framework of a large randomized-controlled trial totalling 2213 hemodynamically stable patients with confirmed acute, symptomatic PE.

Ninety patients experienced a fatal or non-fatal recurrent venous thromboembolism during the first 3 months of follow-up (cases); Two hundred and ninety-seven patients with uneventful follow-up served as controls.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got BNP (Nesiritide) and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

Blood for BNP levels was obtained at referral and assayed in a central laboratory.

What Was Measured

Brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) is excreted from the cardiac ventricles in response to cardiomyocyte stretch and can be measured with an easy-to-perform blood test.

The subject headings attached to it are Acute Disease, Biomarkers, Fibrinolytic Agents, Natriuretic Peptide, Brain, Predictive Value of Tests, Pulmonary Embolism and Risk Factors.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized study of BNP (Nesiritide) in 2213 patients.

With several hundred people or more, it is a fairly large study for this kind of research.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 6 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2006 (Journal of thrombosis and haemostasis : JTH), a journal based in England.

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