The time course of natriuretic hormones as plasma markers of myocardial recovery in heart transplant candidates during ventricular assist device support reveals differences among device types

Background: The natriuretic hormones ANP and BNP are expressed differently in the myocardium. Both hormones have compensatory diuretic activity during heart failure. Mechanical stretch of the myocardial walls induces the expression of these hormones. In failing human myocardium, both ANP and BNP are transcribed in the ventricular myocardium in high amounts. We measured the plasma concentrations of ANP and BNP in patients supported by various ventricular assist devices (VADs) at various times. We analyzed the time courses of ANP and BNP to determine (1) the time scale of their down-regulation as a marker of putative myocardial recovery, (2) their steady-state levels under VAD support and (3) differences caused by various VAD devices. Methods: We analyzed ANP and BNP using commercially available radioimmune assays. We analyzed the time courses of patients supported by Thoratec (R) (THO) LVAD (n = 8), TCI Heartmate (R) (TCI) (n = 6), Novacor (R) (NOV) (n = 7), and Lionheart (R) (LIO) (n = 3). Results: Patients supported with NOV and some patients with TCI showed downregulation of BNP to a steady-state level at 30 to 50 days, following a single exponential decay. In contrast, patients supported by THO or 1.10 did not reveal a determined time course of the natriuretic hormones. Only a few patients reached normal plasma values during VAD support. Conclusion: The time courses of ANP and BNP differ among VAD types because of construction and/or driving mode, which might be important when considering patients for weaning from VAD without heart transplant.