Published in:
01-04-2011 | Letter to the Editor
Clinical Relevance of Different B-Type Natriuretic Peptide Decisional Cutoff Values for the Diagnosis of Congenital Heart Disease in the First Weeks of Life
Authors:
Cantinotti Massimiliano, Storti Simona, Murzi Bruno, Clerico Aldo, Bibhuti B. Das
Published in:
Pediatric Cardiology
|
Issue 4/2011
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Excerpt
We read with interest the review article of Das [
1] entitled plasma B-type natriuretic peptides (BNP) in children with cardiovascular diseases. We agree with the author that BNP should be considered as an important additional factor in the diagnosis and management of congenital heart disease (CHD). However, two points need further clarification. First, it is recognized that the knowledge of BNP use for adult patients cannot be transferred directly to children. Similarly, neonates should be clearly distinguished from older children. Second, BNP/N-terminal proBNP (NT-proBNP) reference values for neonates differ greatly from those for older children, and this is critical for clinical applications [
2‐
4]. …
