BNP/NT-proBNP and cardiac pacing: a review.

Natriuretic peptide (NP) levels (B-type natriuretic peptide [BNP] and N-terminal proBNP) are now widely used in clinical practice and cardiovascular research all over the world and have been incorporated into many cardiovascular guidelines for heart failure (HF). The roles of NP levels are evolving rapidly not only in diagnosis, therapy monitoring, and risk stratification of HF, but also in differential diagnosis of acute dyspnea, predicting death and rehospitalization in HF patients. NP assays have been applied in permanent cardiac pacing in recent years, whereas it is still not well known how NP levels change and whether NP levels can predict HF in permanent cardiac pacing. Therefore, this article reviews the role of NP levels in permanent cardiac pacing, mainly including NP changes in different cardiac pacing modes and cardiac resynchronization therapy.