Figure 1.

Among the entire group of patients undergoing elective vascular surgery (n = 123), an elevated N-terminal pro hormone BNP (NT-proBNP) level predicted those patients who would have myocardial injury (elevated postoperative troponin level) as well as those patients who had a longer postoperative stay in the hospital. These data show the importance of NT-Pro BNP levels before and after the operation for perioperative risk-stratification [2]. Values are expressed as medians, interquartile values, and means. Permission was granted to reproduce the data.