Abstract
Dear Editor, We read with great interest the article recently published
in Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiology, “Left atrial appendage
dimension predicts elevated brain natriuretic peptide in nonvalvular
atrial fibrillation” by Cook JA. et al. 1 The authors
have studied the relation between Brain natriuretic peptide (BNP)
elevations and left atrial appendage measurements in patients who
referred for left atrial appendage (LAA) occlusion in patients with
nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (AF). BNP release is largely from the
ventricles and it is also dynamically dependent on myocardial stretch
and fluid volume status. However, it seems difficult to prove that BNP
levels are directly related to the LAA measurements. Correlating BNP
elevation only with left atrial or LAA measurements means ignoring left
ventricular strain. Considering that these patients were referred for
LAA occlusion and had a high CHA 2DS
2-VASc score, and not taking heart failure with
preserved ejection fraction into account may lead to errors in
interpreting the results. Moreover, it should be evaluated that the left
atrial appendage may undergo remodeling or enlargement as a result of
the left ventricular end-diastolic pressure increase. In this case,
although the study is valuable, remains a cross-sectional study and a
snapshot of the correlation of BNP and LAA. Second, it should be
disclosed whether patients have paroxysmal or chronic AF and how long
the patient has had AF. A relationship was established between LAA
dimensions and BNP in the study, it is essential that the duration of AF
should be considered and subgroup analyses should be evaluated if
possible, since AF has a significant effect on BNP release. We
appreciate this study and believe that a more detailed evaluation
including left ventricular evaluation and prospectively monitored LAA
and BNP would yield more realistic results. In addition, we think that
it would be useful to evaluate midregional pro-A-type natriuretic
(MR-proANP) in LAA studies, which is specific to the left atrial
enlargement and similar physiology to BNP. 2