des are produced when the cardiac muscle is under stress. The role of testing for these proteins in several forms of cardiovascular disease has been the subject of intense recent study. In 2002, the newest generation of natriuretic peptide assays became available, and soon thereafter the current investigation called the PRIDE study was launched to determine the usefulness of a test for NT-proBNP in evaluating emergency patients. At the time of its launch, the PRIDE study was the first prospective American trial of NT-proBNP and the largest such study to study the test in patients with shortness of breath.

About 600 patients who came to the MGH Emergency Department with shortness of breath were enrolled in the study. In addition to standard evaluation of symptoms, a blood sample was drawn for NT-proBNP measurement. After the emergency assessment was completed, the attending physicians were asked to estimate the likelihood that the patients' symptoms were caused by heart failure, based on all available information except the NT-proBNP assay. For patients admitted to the hospital, the entire record of their stay was included in the study data. Sixty days after the original emergency visit, the researchers followed up with each patient, contacting them personally and reviewing their records to identify any subsequent clinical events. Participation in the study in no way changed the care or treatment the patients received.

To determine the diagnoses for this study, cardiologists not involved in the patients' care reviewed all the participants' relevant hospital records from the initial emergency visit through the 60-day follow up. In assigning the final diagnosis either acute heart failure or some other cause for shortness of breath these physicians also did not have access to the NT-proBNP results.

When they reviewed NT-proBNP levels, the researchers found that the protein's concentrations were significantly higher in patients eve
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Contact: Sue McGreevey
smcgreevey@partners.org
617-724-2764
Massachusetts General Hospital
11-Apr-2005

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