Brain natriuretic peptide levels and left ventricular functional recovery in a chronic heart failure population

Due to the poor correlation between symptoms and left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction in a chronic heart failure (HF) population, the ability to identify patients who demonstrate LV functional recovery poses a dilemma for the clinician. Serial echocardiograms are not practical in a large outpatient HF population. Plasma brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels have a high predictive value for excluding patients with ventricular dysfunction and therefore could serve as a marker for identifying patients who demonstrate improved LV function. To evaluate this point, the researchers obtained baseline BNP levels in 380 chronic systolic HF patients seen in an outpatient HF clinic. Each patient already had a baseline echocardiogram performed before or on entry into the clinic. Fifty patients were identified in this group as having normal BNP levels (< or = 100 pg/mL). Echocardiograms were then repeated in this group and compared with initial echocardiographic data obtained from a retrospective chart review. The results showed that the mean LV ejection fraction for the group was increased (p < 0.001), mean LV internal dimension was decreased (p < 0.001), and the number of patients with an ejection fraction > 50% increased from zero to 20 (p < 0.001). Thus, normal BNP levels can correlate with LV recovery and could potentially offer a cost-effective method of assessing changes in LV function in patients with chronic HF.