NT-pro-BNP for differential diagnosis in patients with syncope

NT-pro-BNP has been proposed as a good predictor of syncope adverse outcome in the Emergency Department (ED) [Pfister R, Diedrichs H, Larbig R, Erdmann E, Schneider CA. NT-pro-BNP for differential diagnosis in patients with syncope. Int J Cardiol 2008 Jan 29]. We hereby summarize four critical points that should be taken into account when seeking to identify a cardiac cause of syncope or dealing with a risk stratification approach of the patient in the ED. The first issue is that patients admitted to the hospital after syncope are usually sicker than those discharged because of a higher rate of co-morbidity. Secondly, the focus on discharged patients is of paramount importance to assess the goodness of a predictor. Aging, which affects NT-pro-BNP levels, is a limiting factor in interpreting results. Finally, in order to add valuable information to the clinical practice, we suggest to compare results obtained by NT-pro-BNP values and the most used prognostic risk scores, such as the OESIL and SFSR.