proBNP Level

[mainframe]

After a few years of being away from VR, here we are again.

I had a AVR with a bovine tissue valve in March of 2002 here in Seattle at the UW Medical Center. Things have been going well up until the last couple of months.

My last echo was 6/17/09 and some aortic value leakage was found. The cardiologist didn't give me much information about the amount of leakage but wanted to do a TEE. He is an out of network cardiologist I'd seen before but got nervous about the cost of seeing someone out of network.

I decided to get an in network cardio and believe I have a good one. I saw him at the end of July and he looked at the echo report from 6/17 and told me it was getting pretty close to time for a re-op, later this year or early next year. He wanted to schedule a treadmill test for 9/11 which is my next appointment.

Since that time I've been getting more and more short of breath. I emailed him about the shortness of breath and he ordered another echo, chest xray and blood work. I'll find out the bigger picture on 9/11, but one of my blood tests came back that gives me pause. The level of proBNP (standard range is 0 - 125) is 3273. Seems like alot.

Not sure how I'll do on the treadmill test. Obviously I'm getting out of breath fairly easy but when my heart rate gets up to 110 - 120, I've been getting a fair amount of discomfort in what is "the pit of my stomach" area.

The EF of my last echo on 6/17 was 50 which is bit lower than normal but not horrible. Could that have gone south that quickly. I also understand the proBNP level could be kidney related, which I found out a couple of weeks ago I got the short straw and am 1 of approx. 750 people born with only 1 kidney.

How concerned should I be with that level of proBNP? Any thoughts?

Chris

 

[briansmom]

If proBNP is the same as BNP, I would be concerned. As I understand it, it is a measure of organ damage and/or (I'm not clear on which) congestive heart failure.
The artery feeding my son's sole remaining kidney started to close a few months ago, they put a stent in to open it back up. Before they figured out what was going on, he went into kidney failure and congestive heart failure. His BNP got into the 800s during that time and his docs seemed very concerned with that number. BNP is a fairly new test, but it is now used to help determine whether someone is having heart trouble (versus indigestion or something). My son's BNP went up to 600 came back down to 100 and then went back to the 800s. They can't test it more than every 3-4 days. My son's EF is only about 25% now so he has to have a VO2 treadmill test to determine if it's time for him to be put on the transplant list.
Kidney disease can also cause a rise in BNP, but a single working kidney should not.
Do you have edema? I would certainly question the doc waiting on this.

 

[hensylee]

well, hey there, Chris. You will find many who remember you. so nice to see you but sad to hear the reason you had to come back in. You will be keeping us up to date as you go along. I just wanted to say hey and welcome home. Blessins........

 

[mainframe]

Deanne,

thanks for the reply. I definitely think the higher reading is just another indication of something going on and that "it's time". My cardio is out of the office until tomorrow and his staff said if there is reason for concern prior to next weeks appointment they would let me know when he gets back.

Hi Ann,

It's great to see several of the same folks still here from when I joined in 2001. VR.com was a great resource something I definitely needed and benefited from. I still have my original blue VR.com tee shirt and sweatshirt both in mint condition. Funny now that I've been there and done that it seems I'm alot more casual about the whole thing this time around.

Chris