Peak-Exercise BNP in Severe Aortic Stenosis Can Be Prognostic

Marked increase of B-type natriuretic peptide levels after exercise could unmask “asymptomatic” patients.

Patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis (AS) should undergo valve replacement. However, symptom onset often is misleading because some patients attribute their declining exercise capacity to normal aging. Can the transition to overt symptoms be better delineated by measuring B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels during exercise?

Researchers from two centers in Canada and Belgium prospectively collected resting and exercise-stress echocardiographic data and plasma BNP levels in 211 patients with asymptomatic AS and preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (mean age, 68; women, 36%). Only analyses on the 157 patients with severe AS were reported in full.

During a mean follow-up of 1.5 years, the predefined endpoint — death or aor…

Reviewing Author

Beat J. Meyer, MD

Disclosures

Leadership positions in professional societiesBern Heart Foundation (President); International Academy of Medicine, Bern, Switzerland (Director)

Beat J. Meyer, MD

Disclosures

Leadership positions in professional societiesBern Heart Foundation (President); International Academy of Medicine, Bern, Switzerland (Director)

Peak-Exercise BNP in Severe Aortic Stenosis Can Be Prognostic

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Reviewing Author