الفهرس 
Introduction and aim of the workOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
The advent of biological markers in diagnosing different disease entities made an avalanche in medical practiceThe present work aimed at evaluating the specificity and sensitivity of NT-proBNP as a biomarker for diagnosing CHF and as well as its severity and hence , helping early diagnosis of CHF in absence of rapid echocardiographic examination.
The patient group consisted of 45 children (24 males and 21 females) aging between 45 days and 12 years. All having the inclusion criterion of CHF. They were subclassified into : group IA consisting of 15 patients with DCM , group IB consisting of 15 patients with CHD and group IC consisting of 15patientsthathave developed CHF due to non-cardiac causes. The control group was formed of 15 healthy children matching in age and gender to the patients groups. All children were subjected to full history tacking , physical examination , classification of clinical severity of CHF in cases groups according to Modified Ross Score , X-ray chest and heart , standard 12 leads ECG , echocardiography and routine laboratory investigations ( including CBC) , and a special investigation which is serum level of NT-proBNP using NT-proBNP ELISA kit.
There was a statistically significant difference in the level of NT-proBNP in the patients groups and the control group. There was also a statistically significant difference between the grade of clinical severity regarding the level of NT-proBNP.Also , the NT-proBNP level was higher in the more higher class of CHF but it is no affected by the cause of CHF. It is noteworthy to mention that there was a statistically significant difference in the level of NT-proBNPbetween cases of HFpEF and HFrEF. As well asNT-proBNP level was significantly correlated with some echocardiographic parameters(EF, FS , LVEDD , LVESD and E/A ratio ).