Spearman’s rank correlation between preoperative serum levels of BNP/NT-proBNP and expression of HIF-2 alpha and preoperative serum level of VEGF. There was a positive relationship between expression levels of HIF-2 alpha in the primary tumour and preoperat... Spearman’s rank correlation between preoperative serum levels of BNP/NT-proBNP and expression of HIF-2 alpha and preoperative serum level of VEGF. There was a positive relationship between expression levels of HIF-2 alpha in the primary tumour and preoperative serum levels of VEGF (A). Expressions levels of HIF-2 alpha in the primary tumours did not correlate with preoperative serum levels of BNP (B) and NT-proBNP (C). There were no relationships between preoperative serum levels of VEGF and BNP (D) and NT-proBNP (E). BNP, brain natriuretic peptide; HIF-2, hypoxia-inducible factor 2; NT-proBNP, N-terminal pro-BNP; VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor. Takao Kamai et al. Open Heart 2018;5:e000666 ©2018 by British Cardiovascular Society