Falsely high B-type natriuretic peptide concentration in patients without heart failure attributed to AxSYM assay:...

We report a case series of eight subjects complaining of non-specific chest pain without heart failure, but with apparent high concentrations of plasma B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP). No positive clinical characteristics were identified in physical examinations, cardiac imaging, laboratory findings, or pulmonary function tests. However, we observed unusually high BNP values when analysing blood samples of the patients using the AxSYM assay, and this was not supported by readings from Triage® or ADVIA Centaur® assays on the same samples, which showed BNP within the normal range. We believe that the possibility for false readings for high BNP levels in healthy individuals measured by AxSYM assay should be taken into account by physicians in clinical practice to avoid medical errors.