[Clinical characteristics of severe chronic heart failure patients with normal blood B-type natriuretic peptide].

Abstract To investigate the clinical features of severe chronic heart failure patients with normal B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP). A total of 57 patients with severe chronic heart failure (New York Heart Association class III and IV) were included in this prospective control study from Dec. 2002 to Oct. 2009. Group A included 13 patients with normal BNP ( 100 ng/L). Group A patients were followup for (19.6 ± 14.7) months and group B patients for (72.5 ± 17.1) months. The baseline clinical characteristics of two groups were comparable. Left ventricular end diastolic diameter (LVEDd) of group A was larger than group B [(70.56 ± 4.33) mm vs.(63.73 ± 3.75) mm, P 0.05]. The mortality of group A was higher than group B (11/12 vs. 6/44, P