Risk Stratification of Pulmonary Thromboembolism usingBrain Natriuretic Peptide and Troponin I; a Brief Report

Pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) is one of the most prevalent medical disorders, with a no-table annual fatality rate. This study aimed to evaluated the accuracy of serum pro-BNP and troponin I levels inPTE diagnosis.

This cross-sectional study was implemented on 267 patients with suspected PTE (sud-den chest pain or sudden dyspnea) in Imam Reza Hospital in Mashhad, Iran. All patients underwent pulmonarycomputed tomography (CT) angiography (as the gold standard test) and their serum levels of troponin I andpro-BNP were measured. The screening performance characteristics of pro-BNP in detection of PTE cases weremeasured and reported using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis.

Two-hundred-sixty-seven patients with a mean age of 67.7 ±11.5 years were evaluated (60.1% male). PTE was confirmed via CTangiography in 121 patients. The area under the ROC curve of troponin I and pro-BNP in detection of PTE was0.501 ng/mL and 0.972 pg/mL, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of proBNP at the best cut-off point(100 pg/ml) were 85.4% and 80.2%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of troponin I at the best cut-offpoint (0.005 ng/ml) were 65.5% and 42%, respectively.

Due to the comparatively good sensitiv-ity and specificity of proBNP in diagnosis of pulmonary thromboembolism, it can be employed as a diagnosticdeterminant in patients with suspected pulmonary thromboembolism along with other laboratory tests.