The role of NT-proBNP and apelin in the assessment of right ventricular dysfunction in acute pulmonary embolism

Objective: to investigate the role of n-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide and apelin in the assessment of right ventricular dysfunction in acute pulmonary embolism. methods: the prospective case-control study was conducted at ondokuz mayis university,samsun,turkey,from january 2008 to june 2009,and comprised adult patients with acute pulmonary embolism. a smaller group of healthy adults served as the control. blood n-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide and apelin levels were measured on admission to the emergency department. spss 15 was used for data analysis. results: there were 56 cases and 20 controls in the study. blood n-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide levels were higher in cases than the controls (p<0.05). apelin levels were not different between the groups (p>0.05). patients with right ventricular dysfunction had significantly higher peptide levels than those without the dysfunction (p<0.05). the cut-off value of peptide for the prediction of right ventricular dysfunction was 1000 pg/ml,with a sensitivity of 92.1% and specificity of 77.8%. conclusions: there was no significant change in plasma apelin levels in acute pulmonary embolism. the blood nterminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide maybe a useful parameter in the assessment of right ventricular dysfunction in acute pulmonary embolism. © 2016,university of economics - prague. all reserved.