In addition, there was a strong correlation between the years elapsed since cancer diagnosis and the BNP level in patients with a history of HSCT (ρ = 0.73; P = 0.0073), although there was no obvious correlation in the patients overall (ρ = 0.26; P = 0.18) or in patients without HSCT (ρ = -0.066; P = 0.81) (Fig. 1). Here, NPPB is linked to cancer.