Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
NT-proBNP blood test detects heart enlargement in cats
By Tominaga, Yoshinori et al.·Published in The Journal of veterinary medical science·2011·School of Veterinary Medicine, Japan·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: The diagnostic significance of the plasma N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic Peptide concentration in asymptomatic cats with cardiac enlargement.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of 67 healthy-looking cats with heart enlargement were tested for a substance called NT-proBNP in their blood to see if it could help identify heart issues. The results showed that these cats had much higher levels of NT-proBNP compared to 21 normal cats, indicating potential heart problems even though they didn't show any symptoms. The study found that measuring NT-proBNP could be a helpful screening tool for detecting heart enlargement in cats before they show signs of illness. This could lead to earlier treatment and better outcomes for affected cats.
People also search for: cat heart enlargement symptoms · NT-proBNP test for cats · asymptomatic cat heart disease
Abstract
We evaluated the diagnostic significance of the N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) concentration in asymptomatic cats with cardiac enlargement. The plasma NT-proBNP concentration was measured in 21 clinically healthy control cats, and 67 asymptomatic cats with cardiac enlargement defined as end-diastolic interventricular septum thickness (IVSd) and/or diastolic left ventricular posterior wall thickness (LVPWd) >0.6 cm, vertebla heart scale (VHS) >7.8, and/or left atria/aorta ratio (LA/Ao) >1.5. The plasma NT-proBNP concentration in the asymptomatic cats with cardiac enlargement (median: 662.0, range: 24.0-2,449.0 pmol/l) was significantly higher than that in the controls (24.0, 24.0-95.0 pmol/l, P<0.001). The plasma NT-proBNP concentration was significantly correlated with the VHS, LA/Ao, IVSd and LVPWd (r=0.578, P<0.001; r=0.462, P<0.001; r=0.563, P<0.001; and r=0.764, P<0.001, respectively). Receiver operating characteristic analysis showed a cut-off value of 95.0 pmol/l for the detection of asymptomatic cats with cardiac enlargement, sensitivity and specificity of 88.1 and 100%, respectively, and an area under the curve of 0.971. These results suggest that the determination of the plasma NT-proBNP concentration can be a useful screening test for asymptomatic cats with cardiac enlargement.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21467762/