Prognostic value of serum nt-probnp and SST2 levels in patients with pulmonary hypertension

Prognostic Value of Serum NT-proBNP and sST2 Levels in Patients with Pulmonary Hypertension Aim: sST2 is an indicator of cardiac fibrosis, it has been suggested that it is an important indicator of right heart failure and mortality in children and may be a novel biomarker for prognostic indicator in children with PHT. Aim of ths study is serum sST2 levels and NT-proBNP levels were evaluated in pediatric patients with PHT and investigated for its utility as a biomarker in the diagnosis and prognosis of pulmonary hypertension. Materials and Method: The study was conducted between November 2018 and October 2019 in the Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Inönü University. 23 patients followed with PHT and 30 healthy childrens were evaluated in pediatric cardiology clinic due to different complaints such as murmur and chest pain; All patients and control group were evaluated with electrocardiography, and echocardiography after physical examination. For sST2 and NT-proBNP levels, 3 milliliters of blood samples were taken into biochemistry tubes and centrifuged at 3000 rpm for 10 minutes. Biotec brand sinergy H1 model biochemistry autoanalyser by immunoturbidimetric method; NT-proBNP, Siemens immulate-2000 model device by chemiluminescence method; Soluble-ST2 levels "Human sICAM-1 Elisa Kit RayBiotech Inc. USA" kit and ELISA method. The results were expressed in pg/mL. Results: The mean age of the patient group was 13.9 (5.5-18), years and the mean age of the control group was 9.6 years (3-17). Serum sST2 levels were 1469.26±510.9 pg/mL in the patient group and 1151.30±655.99 pg/mL in the control group. There was no statistically significant difference between sST2 levels in the patient group compared to the control group (p: 0.057). Serum NT-proBNP levels were 763.73±2432.67 pg/mL in the patient group and 51.71±30.08 pg/mL in the control group. NT-proBNP levels were significantly higher in the patient group compared to the control group (p <0.01). Conclusion: In this study, NT-proBNP levels were found to be significantly higher in the patient group in parallel with previous studies. Although previous studies conducted in literature showed positive results regarding the use of sST2 as a biomarker in patients with PHT, we found that the use of sST2 as a biomarker in patients with PHT was not reliable. As studies on this subject are limited, further studies with larger patient series are needed to evaluate sST2 as a biomarker in PHT patients. Keywords: PHT, NT-proBNP, sST2, prognosis