Background: The aim of this study was to predict right ventricular dysfunction (RVD) using plasma concentration of D-dimer, pro-atrial natriuretic peptide (pro-ANP), brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), endothelin-1 (ET-1) and cardiac troponin I (TNI) in patients with pulmonary embolism (PE).
Methods: Patients suspected of PE had a ventilation/perfusion-single-photon emission-tomography (V/Q-SPECT), pulmonary multidetector computer tomography (MDCT) angiography, blood samples and ECG-gated cardiac CT performed the same day.
Results: Pro-ANP, BNP and D-dimer are associated with significantly elevated levels in PE patients with RVD. ROC curves demonstrated that D-dimer, pro-ANP and BNP were accurate for detection of RVD.
Conclusion: Because measurements of cardiac biomarkers are inexpensive and easily obtained they may prove useful in the clinical diagnosis of RVD. However because of the small sample size, the results need to be confirmed in larger studies.
© 2010 The Authors. Clinical Physiology and Functional Imaging © 2010 Scandinavian Society of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine.