Relationship and Clinical Usefulness between Preoperative Levels of Brain Natriuretic Peptide, Other Cardiac Markers and Perioperative Parameters in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease

Cardiac troponin-I (cTnI), creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB), and C-reactive protein (CRP) are routine car-diac markers for the diagnosis of cardiovascular disease. Recently, brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) has garnered attention as a marker of heart failure. This study was retrospectively designed to investigate the relationships between preoperative BNP, other cardiac markers levels and perioperative parame-ters in seventy-four adult patients that underwent off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (OPCAB) and to assess its usefulness for predicting postoperative outcomes. Preoperative levels of BNP, cTnI, CK-MB, and CRP had significantly positive or negative correlations with echocadiographic parameters. There were significantly positive relationships between BNP, cTnI, CK-MB, and CRP concentration. Postoperative mechanical ventilation time had a positive correlation to preoperative levels of cTnI, CK-MB, and CRP, while ICU-staying period had a positive correlation with BNP, cTnI and CK-MB. These results reveal that a preoperative level of BNP is a good predictor and that its combination with cTnI, CK-MB, and CRP might be useful for diagnosis and comprehensive risk stratification of patients with coronary heart diseases, as well as prognosis of perioperative outcomes in OPCAB patients. Key words: Brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), cardiac troponin-I (cTnI), creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB), C-reactive protein (CRP), echocardiography, off-pump coronary artery bypass graftin