Plasma Concentrations of Atrial, Brain, and C-type Natriuretic Peptides and Endothelin-1 in Patients With Chronic Respiratory Diseases

We measured plasma concentrations of atrial, brain, and C-type natriuretic peptides (ANP, BNP, and CNP, respectively) and endothelin-1 in 20 patients with chronic respiratory diseases (CRD) to establish whether these peptides are increased in patient groups with CRD (group A, PaO 2 ≥60 mm Hg; group B, PaO 2 2 and levels of plasma ANP, BNP, and endothelin-1. Plasma ANP, BNP, and endothelin-1 decreased significantly 25.4 days after LTOT. In 10 patients with RHO findings in the ECG, plasma ANP and BNP levels were significantly elevated compared with those in patients without RHO. These findings show that plasma ANP, BNP, and endothelin-1 are elevated according to the degree of hypoxemia, and they suggest that decreases in plasma ANP, BNP, and endothelin-1 may be used as indexes of the improvement by LTOT, and that plasma ANP and BNP may represent markers of RHO.