A Potential Marker for Prognosis in Giant Left Ventricular Patients Undergoing Valve Surgery

Although many clinicians have made efforts to improve the prognosis for giant left ventricular with valve disease patients, potential markers to judge the prognosis of giant left ventricular patients undergoing valve surgery are still unknown. The purpose of this study was to explore the possible impact factors for giant left ventricle prognosis.

From September 2019 to September 2022, 75 patients with preoperative valvular disease with a giant left ventricle (left ventricular end diastolic diameter (LVEDD) >65 mm) underwent cardiac valve surgery. The changes in cardiac function one year after surgery were used to describe prognosis and analyze the potential independent factors affecting surgical prognosis. The left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was considered to be recovered if it was ≥50% on follow-up echocardiography at least 6 months after the diagnosis.

The cardiac function of patients with a giant left ventricular and valve disease improved. Compared with preoperation, the left ventricular end diastolic diameter (LVEDD), left ventricular end-systolic dimension (LVESD), pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP), NT-proBNP, and cardio thoracic ratio (CTR) were significantly decreased (p < 0.05), and the ratio of severe heart failure was decreased from 60% to 37.33%. In the univariate analyses, the preoperative NT-proBNP levels and PASP were significantly associated with the cardiac function recovery (odds ratio [OR] = 1.001, 95% CI 1.000-1.002, p = 0.027; OR = 1.092, 95% CI 1.015-1.175, p = 0.018). However, during the diagnostic test, PASP did not account for cardiac function recovery (AUROC = 0.505, 95% CI = 0.387-0.713, p = 0.531). Based on the cutoff value in the experiment, we found that a NT-proBNP >753 pg/mL (AUROC = 0.851, 95% CI = 0.757-0.946, p < 0.0001) was a potential prognostic marker for patients with a giant left ventricular valve disease.

We have demonstrated that an elevated preoperative NT-proBNP level is an independent predictor of cardiac function recovery in a cohort of giant left ventricular patients undergoing valve surgery, and this is the first study about this specific cohort of patients.