Background: Interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) are chronic, progressive disorders that can be complicated by pulmonary hypertension (PH), particularly Group 3 PH, which significantly worsens prognosis. Early diagnosis of PH in ILD is crucial challenging, often requiring invasive procedures like right heart catheterization. Thus, the use of serum biomarkers may offer a valuable, non-invasive alternative. Objective: The objective of this investigation to evaluate the diagnostic utility of three serum biomarkers NT-proBNP, cardiac Troponin-T, and uric acid in detecting PH among ILD patients. Methods: A total of 55 ILD cases have been evaluated and separated into 2 groups: Group I (29 cases) with no/low echocardiographic probability of PH, and Group II (26 cases) with intermediate/high probability of PH. All patients subjected to full clinical assessment, (spirometry), arterial blood gas, high-resolution CT, echocardiography, and measurement of the (NT-proBNP, troponin and serum uric a`), RT Heart Catheterization to group II. Results: NT-proBNP, Troponin-T, and uric a` levels were significantly elevated in Group II. NT-proBNP had the best diagnostic performance (AUC = 0.886) with 84% sensitivity and 83.3% specificity at a cut-off of 89 picogram per milliliter. Uric acid and Troponin-T also showed good diagnostic utility (AUC = 0.853 and 0.798, correspondingly). All three biomarkers correlated positively with right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP) & pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP). Conclusion: NT-proBNP, Troponin-T, and uric acid are promising non-invasive biomarkers for identifying PH in ILD cases. NT-proBNP, in particular, demonstrated the highest diagnostic accuracy. |
