Research Information System
KIDNEY & BLOOD PRESSURE RESEARCH, vol.35, no.5, pp.340-348, 2012 (SCI-Expanded)
Background: We investigated the relationship among serum cardiac biomarkers including N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-pro-BNP), cardiac troponin T (cTnT), uric acid and high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and noninvasive predictors of atherosclerosis including carotid intima-media thickness (IMT), aortic stiffness (pulse wave velocity (PWV)) and transthoracic coronary flow reserve (CFR) in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients. Methods: 37 PD patients were included in the study. We measured (1) carotid IMT, (2) PWV and augmentation index (Alx), and (3) CFR. Simultaneous measurements of serum NT-pro-BNP, cTnT, uric acid and hs-CRP were also performed. Associations among these variables were analyzed. Results: cTnT was significantly associated with carotid IMT (r = 0.747, p < 0.001), PWV (r = 0.431, p = 0.035) and CFR (r = -0.439, p = 0.007). In multivariate analysis, cTnT was a significant independent predictor of carotid IMT (beta = 4.446, p < 0.001) and CFR (beta = -2.272, p = 0.013). Patients with high cTnT levels (>= 0.01 ng/ml) significantly had higher carotid IMT and PWV values. Only the aortic PWV significantly correlated with residual renal function (r = -0.574, p = 0.004). Conclusions: Serum cTnT appeared to be a useful clinical biomarker for evaluating noninvasive predictors of atherosclerosis in chronic PD patients. Arterial stiffness as determined by PWV is also correlated with residual renal function. Copyright (c) 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel