Background: Early detection of pulmonary hypertension (PH) in infants with congenital heart disease (CHD) is crucial for timely intervention and management. Serum pentraxin 3 (PTX3) has emerged as a potential biomarker for inflammatory diseases, but its association with PH in the context of CHD has not been thoroughly investigated.
Objective: To estimate serum PTX3 levels in CHD infants for early detection of PH and to correlate its level with the severity of PH.
Methods: This case-control study involved 80 infants, divided into 50 with CHD (further subdivided into (Group IA) 30 with PH and (Group IB) 20 without PH) and 30 healthy controls. Diagnosis of CHD and PH was confirmed via echocardiography, with PH severity graded according to established criteria. Serum PTX3 levels were measured using ELISA.
Results: Infants with CHD and PH (Group IA) exhibited significantly higher serum PTX3 levels (mean ± SD, 8.22 ± 4.38 ng/ml) compared to those with CHD without PH (Group IB) and healthy controls (3.91 ± 1.78 ng/ml, P<0.001). PTX3 levels showed a significant positive correlation with PH severity (r=0.557, P<0.001) and could predict PH incidence with an AUC of 0.832 (95% CI= 0.732 to 0.907), at a cutoff value >4.29 ng/ml with 86.67% sensitivity and 54.00% specificity.
Conclusion: Serum PTX3 levels are significantly elevated in infants with CHD and PH, correlating with PH severity. These findings suggest PTX3 as a promising biomarker for the early detection and severity assessment of PH in infants with CHD.