The Serum NT-proBNP in Patients with Cirrhosis:Relationship to Cardiac Dysfunction and Liver Function

Objective To detect the values of NT-proBNP and evaluate its relationship with liver function,cardiac structure,and cardiac function which was evaluated by echocardiography in patients with liver cirrhosis.Methods A total of 50 liver cirrhotic patients and 11 healthy controls were studied by two dimensional Doppler echocardiography.Liver cirrhotic patients were divided into group A,B and C according to the Child-Pugh score.Cardiac dimensions and left and right ventricular functions were also evaluated.At the same time,the serum NTproBNP of liver cirrhotic patients and healthy controls were detected,respectively.Results By Comparison between two groups,we found that the values of LVd,LAs,LVPW,AAO,A Wave,RVOTs,PV and NT-proBNP in liver cirrhosis group were higher than those in control group,whereas the value of E/A decreased.As for the value of LAs and serum NT-proBNP,A and B group were all lower than C group.With LAs>35 mm,the number of cases in liver cirrhosis group was higher than that in control group.So did that With E/A<1.Conclusions The cardiac dysfunction confirmed the existence of cirrhotic cardiomyopathy.More clinical implications were found in liver cirrhotic patients with increased values of serum NT-proBNP.