N-terminal brain natriuretic propeptide (NTproBNP) - a predictor of functional outcome of acute cardioembolic ischemic stroke
The aim of the work was to study the content of amino-terminal brain natriuretic propeptide (NT-proBNP) in the blood of patients with acute partial anterior carotid stroke (PACS) by atrial fibrillation (AF) and to establish its relationship to functional outcome of stroke. The study included 141 patients with ischemic stroke (IS); control group comprised 9 volunteers without acute cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases. Concentration of NT-proBNP were determined by ELISA method. The analysis of data on the level of NT-proBNP in 24 patients with PACS by AF was carried out. NT-proBNP level was significantly higher on the 1 <sup>th</sup> and 10 <sup>th </sup>day of admission than that of the control group. This study demonstrated the prognostic value of NT-proBNP determination in relation to the clinical outcome of the PACS in the acute period of the disease. Despite the moderate severity of the neurological symptoms of a stroke at the onset of the disease, PACS in AF was accompanied by a pronounced rise in the level of NT-proBNP in the 1 <sup>th </sup>and 10 <sup>th </sup>day of the survey, higher than in control group, which can be explained not only by the presence of acute ischemic brain injury, but cardiac dysfunction concomitant to stroke as well. The high level of NT proBNP in acute PACS by AF was associated with preservation of moderate and/or coarse neurological deficit at discharge of patients from a stroke unit.