Plasma Atrial Natriuretic Peptide Concentrations of the Pulmonary artery, Aorta and Veins in Children with Caridac Disease

To study the site of release and factors affecting the release of the atrial natriuretic peptide(ANP) in the pediatric patients, we measured the plasma ANP concentrations in 23 normal healthy children, 19 patients with congestive heat failure and 16 patients with cardiac disease undergoing diagnostic cardiac catheterization. The following results were obtained. 1) The plasma ANP concentrations of the vein(226.3(74.9pg/ml)in patients with congestive heart failure were significantly higher than those(p<0.01)of the mormal healthy children(13.4 (7.9pg/ml)and those(43.3 40(.7pg/ml)in patients undergoing cardiac catheterization. The plasma ANP concentrations of the femoral vein in patients undergoing cardiac catheterization were also significantly higher than that of the peripheral vein in the normal healthy children(p<0.01). 2) The plasma ANP concentrations of the pulmonary artery(110.9( 80.7pg/ml)were 2 to 3 times higher than that of the femoral vein(43.3( 40.3pg/ml, p<0.01). However there were no significant differences of the plasma ANP concentrations between pulmonary artery and aorta(65.4 (36.1pg/ml),and between aorta and femoral vein. 3) There was a significant correlations of the plasma ANP concentrations vetween pulmonary artery and femoral vein, and pulmonary artery and aorta, but no correlation of those between femoral vein and aorta. 4) The plasma ANP concentrations of the vein were over 3 times more higher in cases of left atrial area over 20 cm2/M2 measured by 2-dimensional echocardiography(213.2 (292.9pg/ml)than those in cases of left atrial area under 20(65.0 66.9pg/ml, p<0.05). The plasma ANP concentrations of the vein were over 3 times more highger in cases of left atrial area over 20 cm2/M2(88.6(19.1pg/ml) than those in cases of left atrial area under 14(57.1 (39.5pg/ml,p<0.05), and in cases of the sum of both atrial mean pressure over 11mmHg(189.5( 42.8pg/ml) than those in cases of the sum under 11(79.3 (52.3pg/ml, p<0.01). The plasma ANP cocentrations of the aorta were significantly higher in cases of left atrial area over 14 cm2/M2(88.6 (19.1pg/ml)than those in cases of left atrial area under 14(57.1 (39.5pg/ml;p 0.05), in cases of the sum of both atrial area over 25cm2/M2(93.9 (21.7pg/ml)those in cases of the sum under 25(46.6 (33.8pg/ml, p<0.01), in cases of sum of mean atrial pressure over 11 mmHg(90.5 (30.3pg/ml)than those in cases of under 11(53.8( 24.6pg/ml, p<0.05),in cases of the sum of both atrial wall stress over 190 mmHg.cm2/M2(101.4 (23.5pg/ml) than those in cases of the sumunder 190(57.5 (26.4pg/ml, p<0.01), and also in cases of pulmonary artery mean pressure over 20mmHg(83.3( 18.2pg/ml) than those in cases o pulmonary artery under 20(47.8( 39.8pg/ml, p<0.05). In conclusion, the plasma ANP concentrations of the pulmonary artery were significantly higher than those of the frmoral vein and the aorta, which indicater that the ANP is predominantly secreted via coronary sinus into the right atrium. The plasma ANP concentrations of the peripheral and femoral vein, the pulmonary artery and the aorta, especially that of the aorta, correlated well with the atrial pressure, the area and the wall stress. This suggests that the arterial blood may be the most appropriate sample for measurement of the ANP.

Serial doppler echocardiographic evaluation of anthracycline induced left ventricular dysfunction in children

Anthracycline drugs are chemotherapeutic agents highly effective against a wide range of neoplasms. However, its administration may be complicated by cardiotoxic reactions. There is a continuum of increasing risk with increasing total dose of drug rather than an absolute cutoff point for total dose drug of that should not be exceeded under any circumstances. At the present time it appears that a potentially important clinical application of Doppler echocardiography would be the noninvasive evaluation of global ventricular function. To assess the value of serial Doppler echocardiography in detecting early signs of anthracycline cardiotoxicity in children, we studied 50 patients (35 male and 15 female children, age range 1.6 to 20 years) admitted to the Department of Pediatrics in the Kyungpook National University Hospital for treatment of neoplasia between July 20, 1988 and April 20, 1991 prospectively. Eight three Doppler echocardiograms were performed prior to and at intervals after receiving varying doses of anthracycline and aortic velocity, acceleration time (AT), ejection time (ET), ratio at AT to ET (AT/ET), acceleration and velocity time integral, and mitral velocity of E and A waves and velocity time integral were measured. Pretreatment parameters were not differ from those of normal age matched control children. The aortic AT/ET showed significant increase with increase in anthracycline dosage, being a mean (+/-SD) of 0.30+/-0.07 in the pretreatment group, 0.33 (+/-0.09) after 100 mg/M2 (p<0.001) but the mitral E/A peak velocity ratio showed significant decrease, being a mean (+/-SD) of 1.47 (+/-0.26) in the pretreatment group and 1.36 (+/-0.09) after 400mg/M2(p<0.05). We could not reliably ascertain the relationship between Doppler echocardiographic changes and development of anthracycline cardiomyopathy but these preliminary data show that Doppler echocardiography may detect incremental changes in left ventricular function in anthracycline cardiomyopathy. It is hoped that further study at higher dose levels in large populations for a sufficient follow up time will identify those patients with a risk of developing cardiomyopathy and then manage them appropriately.

Postnatal changes of creatine kinase and isoenzyme activities in normal and asphyxiated newborns

This study was conducted to evaluate the postnatal changes of serum creatine kinase (CK) and its isoenzymes in normal and asphyxiated newborns. In normal newborns total CK, CK-MM and CK-MB reached a plateau between 2 and 24 hr after birth whereas the serum CK-BB remained stable after birth. CK-MM, CK-MB and CK-BB respectivily composed 90~94%, 5~7% and 1~5% of total CK during study period. In asphyxiated newborns total CK, CK-MM and CK-MB reached maximal value at 12 hr after birth whereas CK-BB decreased after birth. There were no significant differences between normal and asphyxiated newborns in total CK, CK-MM and CK-MB during study period (up to 24 hrs after birth). But CK-BB of asphyxiated newborn was elevated significantly (p<0.05) within 6 hrs after birth compared to normal newborns. There were no significant differences of CK and its isoenzymes between patients evaluated by 5 min Apgar scores(0~3, 4~6 and 7~10) or degree of HIE (HIE stage 0~I, II and III). According to these results, the serum CK-BB is elevated in asphyxiated newborns during 1st 6hrs after birth but has no predictive values of the extent of cerebral damage.

Assessment of Cardiac Output by Doppler Ultrasound Technique Alone

No abstract available.