Assessment of Two New Commercial Rapid Tests for Canine N-terminal Pro-B-type Natriuretic Peptide to Distinguish the Severity of Mitral Valve Disease in Dogs

Abstract

N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-pro-BNP) is a potential cardiac biomarker released primarily from ventricular myocytes. Previous studies in dogs suggest that the NT-proBNP assay can be used to distinguish dogs with respiratory signs between congestive heart failure and primary respiratory illnesses. The objective of this study is to determine and assess the clinical sensitivity and specificity of the two new NT-proBNP immunoassay tests for distinguishing dogs affected by myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD) between with and without congestive heart failure (CHF), as well as between dogs with MMVD and normal dogs. Thirty-seven dogs were enrolled in this study. Thirty-two dogs were measured by the NT-proBNP immunoassay test (Bionote®), including 11 healthy dogs, 11 dogs with MMVD stage B2 (absence of CHF) and 10 dogs with MMVD stage C (presence of CHF). Twenty-eight dogs were measured by the NT-proBNP rapid detection kit (Dianotech®), including 6 healthy dogs, 7 dogs with MMVD stage B2 and 15 dogs with MMVD stage C. The median NT-proBNP concentration in dogs with MMVD stage C was significantly higher than the median NT-proBNP concentration in dogs with MMVD stage B2 and normal healthy dogs (p-value <0.001). The Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that serum NT-proBNP concentration could differentiate dogs with CHF signs (MMVD stage C) from dogs without CHF signs (normal healthy dogs and MMVD stage B2. The area under the curve (AUC) was 0.932 and 0.928 for NT-proBNP Bionote® and Dianotech® test, respectively. It also could discriminate dogs affected by MMVD with CHF (MMVD stage C2) from dogs affected by MMVD without CHF (MMVD stage B2) with AUC of 0.818 and 0.867 for NT-proBNP Bionote® and Dianotech® tests, respectively. In conclusion, the results suggested that serum NT-proBNP concentrations tests from both companies could discriminate between dogs affected by CHF from those without CHF and normal healthy dogs with reasonable accuracy.