• Paolo Mercantini, Salvatore Di Somma, Laura Magrini, Andrea Kazemi Nava, Andrea Scarinci, Marco La Torre, Mario Ferri, Enrico Ferri, Niccolò Petrucciani, and Vincenzo Ziparo.
• Department of Surgery, University of Rome "La Sapienza", II° Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, Azienda Ospedaliera Sant'Andrea, Via di Grottarossa, 1035-39, 00189 Rome, Italy. paolo.mercantini@uniroma1.it
• World J Surg. 2012 Jan 1;36(1):24-30.

BackgroundCardiovascular disease is the leading cause of perioperative death in surgical patients. A variety of clinical scoring systems have been developed to predict adverse cardiovascular events. B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) is a sensitive and specific predictor of left ventricular systolic dysfunction and predicts first cardiovascular event and death in the general population. We present a prospective, single-center, observational cohort study of patients undergoing major abdominal surgery and evaluate the role of BNP in predicting adverse cardiac events.MethodA total of 205 patients were included in the study. All patients were assessed by a cardiological clinical evaluation, a 12-lead ECG report, and a preoperative and postoperative blood sample for plasmatic BNP assessment. The primary end point was the predictive power of preoperative BNP levels for adverse cardiac events until 30 days after discharge.ResultsThirty-one of 205 (15%) patients had adverse cardiac events in the postoperative period up to 30 days after discharge. Five patients (2.4%) of these died of cardiac events. Preoperative BNP values were significantly increased in the 31 patients compared to the other patients in the postoperative period [mean = 112.93 pg/ml (range = 5-2,080) vs. 178.99 pg/ml (range = 5-3,980); median = 117 vs. 23 pg/ml; 95% CI = 49-181; p < 0.0001]. At logistic regression, a preoperative BNP value of >36 pg/ml was the only effective predictor of adverse cardiac events.ConclusionWe have demonstrated that elevated preoperative BNP levels are independent predictors of adverse cardiac events in a cohort of patients undergoing major abdominal surgery in a general surgery department, and this is the first study about this specific cohort of patients.

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