Urinary values of NT-proBNP in children with congenital heart disease – Is it feasible?

Value of preoperative prognostic nutritional index combined with NT-proBNP in predicting acute kidney injury of congenital heart disease children

Objective

The study investigates value of preoperative prognostic nutritional index (PNI) combined with N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) in predicting postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) in congenital heart disease (CHD) children.

Methods

The clinical data of 108 children with congenital heart disease were retrospectively collected. According to whether AKI occurred 48 h after operation, they were divided into AKI group (n = 32) and non-AKI group (n = 76). The clinical data, preoperative PNI and NT-proBNP levels were compared between the two groups. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the influencing factors of AKI, and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn to evaluate the predictive value of preoperative PNI, NT-proBNP and their combination.

Results

Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that Scr, PNI and NT-proBNP were independent risk factors for postoperative AKI in children with congenital heart disease (P < 0.001). The results of ROC curve analysis showed that the area under the curve (AUC) of preoperative PNI, NT-proBNP and their combination in predicting postoperative AKI in children with congenital heart disease were 0.839, 0.738 and 0.907, respectively, and the AUC of their combination was the highest.

Conclusion

The combined use of preoperative PNI as well as NT-proBNP holds significant value in predicting postoperative AKI in CHD children. Monitoring preoperative PNI and NT-proBNP levels may aid in clinically identifying the risk of postoperative AKI in CHD children, thereby improving their prognosis.

Plasma metabolic profiling of patients with tetralogy of fallot

BACKGROUND

Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) is a common congenital heart disease with high mortality. However, the medical imageology and liquidbiopsy techniques present certain limitations. Thus, this study investigated the plasma metabolic profiles to distinguish key metabolites for early diagnosis of TOF.

METHODS

In total, 69 patients with TOF and 43 normal controls were enrolled for targeted metabolomics based on liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectroscopy (LC-MS/MS). Absolute quantification of metabolites was performed using our standard database. The differentially expressed metabolites (DEMs) were screened by fold change (FC), VIP value and pearson correlation coefficient of OPLS-DA model. Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was used to evaluate predictive ability of DEMs.

RESULTS

Different metabolic profiles were presented between TOF and Normal.The pathway analysis showed that significantly changed metabolites were enriched in nicotinamide and purine metabolism. Many intermediatesproductof purine and amido acid were higher in TOF than in Normal group, while energy substrates and electron carriers were lower in TOF than in Normal group. ROC analysis revealed a high diagnostic value of plasma FAD for differentiating TOF from Normal (AUC = 1).

CONCLUSION

Our study quantitatively characterized plasma metabolites in patients with TOF and may help to develop reliable biomarkers that contribute to the early TOF screening.

Correlation between urinary and serum NT-proBNP in acute bronchiolitis: A pilot study

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

We aimed to analyze the correlation of urinary with serum N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) concentrations and its association with severity in acute bronchiolitis.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

A pilot observational study was conducted between October 1, 2021 and March 31, 2022 including acute bronchiolitis cases who attended our institution. Serum and urinary NT-proBNP concentrations were determined using the Alere i NT-proBNP assay in time-matched urine and blood samples. The Mann-Whitney U test, Spearman's correlations, and simple linear regression were utilized to analyze the association of urine NT-proBNP levels with serum NT-proBNP and with variables indicative of severe bronchiolitis.

RESULTS

Seventeen infants (median age 68 [IQR: 36-91] days) with 36 time-matched samples were included. The urine NT-proBNP was positively and strongly correlated with the serum NT-proBNP concentrations (Spearman's ρ = 0.81 & R2  coefficient = 0.751; p < 0.001), and increased with higher C-reactive protein, (p = 0.004), procalcitonin (p = 0.001), and pCO2 (p = 0.029) levels. The initial urinary NT-proBNP concentrations were higher in those infants that required ventilatory support compared with those without this outcome (1.85 [IQR: 1.16-2.44] vs. 0.63 [IQR: 0.45-0.84] pg/mg); p < 0.001); and resulted positively and strongly correlated with the duration of the ventilatory support (Spearman's ρ = 0.76; p < 0.001) and the length of stay hospitalization (Spearman's ρ = 0.84; p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

The urinary NT-proBNP concentrations could be a reliable surrogate for serum NT-proBNP levels and resulted elevated in cases of acute bronchiolitis with complicated evolution, suggesting a potential as a noninvasive tool to assess severity in this setting.

Perioperative urinary NT-ProBNP values and their usefulness as diagnostic and prognostic markers in children with congenital heart disease

INTRODUCTION

NT-proBNP and especially the changes in values are important markers in patients with congenital heart disease (CHD). NT-proBNP values determined from a urine sample correlate well with the plasma values of NT-proBNP. This study investigated the perioperative development of plasma and urinary values, examining their diagnostic and prognostic value.

METHODS

83 children undergoing cardiac surgery for a myriad of CHDs were included. Urine and plasma samples were collected at different points in time. Urinary values were corrected for urine creatinine concentration and transformed into Lg10-values.

RESULTS

The correlation between urine and plasma is weaker postoperatively (r = 0.70-0.80) in comparison to preoperatively (r = 0.87). Neonates had higher urinary values than older children. A ROC-analysis for the differentiation between complex and simple CHD showed an area under the curve of 0.854 for zlog-NT-proBNP plasma values and 0.826 for creatinine corrected urine values. A decline of NT-proBNP plasma values from the day before surgery to the time after intubation correlated with the duration of postoperative non-invasive ventilation (r = 0.9, sig. < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Urinary NT-proBNP shows potential in discriminating between complex and simple CHD. This study is the first to show a prognostic role of NT-proBNP in establishing spontaneous respiration postoperatively in children with CHD.