Diagnostic Role of NT-proBNP in Patients with Cardiac Amyloidosis Involvement: A Meta-Analysis

Background: Amyloidosis is defined as a disorder characterized by the deposition of extracellular protein material of amyloid in tissues. Objectives: N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) is used to predict the cardiac amyloidosis (CA), but its diagnostic effect on CA involvement remains unclear, especially in terms of specificity and sensitivity. Methods: A search for literature was conducted in the Pubmed, Embase, and Cochrane library databases, and QUADAS 2 was used for quality assessment. Midas command in Stata 12.0 was used to analyze the subject indicators. Cochran's Q and I-2 were to test for heterogeneity, and the significant heterogeneity was set at p < 0.05 and/or I-2 > 50%. Spearman correlation analysis was used to evaluate the threshold effect, and the publication bias was assessed using the asymmetry test. The statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Results: As results, 10 sets of data from 7 studies were included for analysis, showing high methodological quality and minimal confounding bias. The sensitivity and specificity of NT-proBNP in the diagnosis of cardiac involvement for patients with amyloidosis were 0.93 and 0.84, respectively. ROC curves also suggested a high diagnostic validity of NT-proBNP with an AUC of 0.95. A Fagan's nomogram plot showed probabilities for NT-proBNP positive and negative in developing CA involvement were 90% and 8%, respectively. The Deek's funnel plot suggested no significant publication bias across included studies, and the results were stable and reliable. Conclusions: NT-proBNP plays the positive role in the early diagnosis of CA involvement with high sensitivity and specificity.