Plasma N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide for prediction of death or nonfatal myocardial infarction following percutaneous coronary intervention

B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and the N-terminus of pro-BNP (NT–pro-BNP) have prognostic value in patients with heart failure and patients with acute coronary syndromes. Little is known about the prognostic value of baseline NT–pro-BNP alone or in combination with C-reactive protein (CRP) for clinical outcome after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Within a single center registry of contemporaneous PCI, we investigated the prognostic value of baseline plasma NT–pro-BNP and CRP concentrations for the prediction of death or nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI) during 12 to 14 months of follow-up. Among 1,172 consecutive patients, the occurrence of death or MI increased significantly with baseline NT–pro-BNP before PCI (first quartile 0 of 294, second quartile 6 of 291 [2.1%], third quartile 4 of 294 [1.4%], fourth quartile 22 of 293 [7.5%)]; p