Kidney international
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Kidney international · Jan 2005
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialB-type natriuretic peptide for acute dyspnea in patients with kidney disease: insights from a randomized comparison.
B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels are reliably elevated in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) and therefore helpful in its diagnosis. However, kidney disease results in elevated BNP levels independently of CHF. Accordingly, the impact of kidney disease on the benefit of BNP testing needs to be scrutinized. ⋯ When applying BNP cut-off values without adjustment for the presence of kidney disease, the use of BNP levels does significantly improve the management of patients without kidney disease, but not of those with kidney disease.