Pretransplant plasma brain natriuretic peptide and N-terminal probrain natriuretic peptide are more useful prognostic markers of overall survival after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation than echocardiography

Background: There are several prognosis prediction models about allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT) such as the hematopoietic cell transplantation specific comorbidity index (HCT-CI) and the refined disease risk index (R-DRI). Although HCT-CI and R-DRI are valuable and commonly used, further improvement of these models is desirable because the prognostic predictive abilities for post-allo-HCT survival remain suboptimal. Both brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), are released from the ventricular and atrial walls, in response to the walls stretch into the blood. Plasma BNP and NT-proBNP levels are well-known biomarkers of the predictors of death in patients with cancer and heart disease. However, it is unclear whether these biomarkers are useful predictors for prognosis after allo-HCT. The main aim of our study was to evaluate the potential role of plasma BNP and NT-proBNP levels in predicting the mortality in allo-HCT patients.