Text Box: CHANGES IN PLASMA UROTENSIN II, A NEWLY DISCOVERED VASOACTIVE PEPTIDE, IN CHILDREN WITH CONGENITAL HEART DISEASES
Fan J1, Du JB1, Tang CS2, Cheng X, Cao J2, Wu Y1 
1 Department of Pediatrics, First Hospital, Peking University, Beijing, China
2 Institute of Cardiovascular Disease Research, First Hospital, Peking 
 University, Beijing, China

Objective: To investigate the plasma urotensin II (UII) concentration in patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) and to study the relationship between the plasma UII level and pulmonary artery pressure, cardiac function, pulmonary artery vascularity and shunt direction.
Methods: Doppler echocardiography was used to measure the mean pulmonary artery pressure (PAMP), centration of 20 patients with CHD and 12 normal controls were determined by radiommunossary (RIA).
Result: The plasma UII level in the patients with CHD was not significantly different from that of control group (p>0.05). The plasma UII level in the patients with CHD was are not associated with pulmonary artery pressure, cardiac function and shunt direction. In children with whose pulmonary vascularity increased, the plasma UII level was not significantly changed (p>0.05). However, In those with diminished of pulmonary vascularity, the plasma UII level was significantly higher than that of control group (p<0.05).
Conclusion: The plasma UII level was not associated with pulmonary artery pressure,cardiac function and shunt direction. But it correlated with pulmonary vascularity .In cases of CHD with diminished pulmonary vascularity, the increased in plasma UII level was probably related to decreased lung metabolic function declined or organism hypoxia.
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