Question about BNP (brain natriuretic peptide) fluctuation levels/blood test results.

[hoosier_guy]

Last month I had a blood test done and the BNP was 5 and the normal range was (0-100) My blood pressure at that time was 124/79

This close to a month later (last week) I had another blood test done (different location) and this time my BNP was 19 with a normal range of (0-100) My blood pressure was 159/91 (I was having high anxiety at the time of the test)

I do take Lotensin for blood pressure.

So my question is this;

Do BNP levels fluctuate over time in relevance to each other? For example if I had my BNP levels checked on the 15th of every month for 12 months would I see them go up and down?

I guess my thinking is this, in close to a month my BNP went up nearly 4x times so I could think that it's getting worse or it could just fluctuate due to other non related factors.

MY EKG on both occassions were "normal ecg" and I have had extensive testing on my heart a few months ago and all results were normal.

[Lenin]

Hoosier,
Are you a CHF sufferer?
BNP is usually measured to determine progression of heart failure. It is generated when ventricular musculature is stretched.

BNP also seems to rise as a result of kidney obstruction.

I'm not sure what normal variations in BNP are. Might very well be related to the amount of salt in your bloodstream at the time.

[hoosier_guy]

No, I have had Stress Test's, Dobutamine Echo stress test, EKG's, CAT Scan (for possible blood clot, none found), 48 Holter monitor, wore an event monitor and I passed all of them.

I remember that the cardilogist said my heart had no structural defects, my ejection rate is 65%, but I did have hypertension.

I did call the ER where I had the test done and inquired about the 5 to 19 in less than a month, the nurse put me on hold to ask the doctor. She got back on the phone and said that it was a normal physiological fluctuation and that 300 is bad. I was just 5 and 19. He and my electrophysiologist both said I have a normal heart. During the 48 hr holter monitor I had 0 PVC's, 3 PVC's and that was it.

My troponin was less than 0.1 as well. But I think they use the BNP and Troponin to see if I am having a heart attack.

It just sucks when you see a number like that and you automatically assume the worst. When in reality those numbers move up and down for one benign reason or another.

[Roscoe36]

Hoosier Guy,

Can I ask how old you are? I have been having a lot of chest pains myself and got a bunch of tests run (the same ones as you) and they were all ok. However, I am still having awful chest pains and various other symptoms of heart troubles. A month ago, I also had a BNP test and it came back at 4.8. I know this is low and I shouldn't worry, but I was thinking about having it redone (especially in light of what you said about your increase) to see if anything changed (also since I have gotten worse).

[hoosier_guy]

I am 31. The BNP from what I gathered from the nurse said that my 5 - 19 is a natural physiological fluctuation.

You taking that test again won't really tell you anything, it's more part of a cardiac profile to better ascertain if your having a cardiac event.

A reading over 100 indicates possible congestive heart failure and the doc said that 300 is where to get concerned.

I searched high and low to figure out the nature of the BNP number and I found nothing mentioning it at all. It's more of an emergency room test.

But what I did find out was that it's a small part of diagnosing CHF. Echo's, EKGs, stress tests will reveal all of that. The other thing I was able to find and this was reading an in depth study that was done said that of those individuals who participated in the study that did not have CHF had a mean (average) of 39.7 pg/ml

So if my 5-20 is a normal physiological fluctuation, then in between time I could have had 6, then a 21, then a 12 and so on.

So your 4.8 is a good number. If you want another test see if you can get a nuclear stress test.

You pains could be from stress and anxiety over your percieved cardiac condition.