AACC scientists identify new cardiac biomarker

Plus, get ready for high sensitivity cardiac Troponin assays in practice.

Laboratory medicine experts discovered a new lipid biomarker panel to detect heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) even before symptoms present, with "much greater certainty than standard tests for this condition," according to a January 5 press release from the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC).

The January issue of the AACC's journal, Clinical Chemistry focuses on cardiovascular disease and features research reflecting a "growing understanding of the molecular signatures of heart disease," according to the press release, and a trend towards developing "more precise tests for the early diagnosis, monitoring, and targeted treatment."

The study in question identified three new cardiac lipid biomarkers, a cardiac lipid panel (CLP), which "significantly improved diagnostic performance" when combined with the current standard biomarker approach for diagnosing heart failure, NT-proBNP.

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Is heart failure over-diagnosed? and other stories

Is heart failure over-diagnosed?

A common problem in elderly men, obstructive uropathy, can look a lot like heart failure.

When pulmonary edema is present, heart failure is often the "scapegoat" says Melissa Walton-Shirley, MD in a commentary on Medscape. Approaching heart failure with "an air of skepticism" might help.

I've seen a handful of obstructive uropathy cases masquerading as heart failure in elderly men in recent years. I shudder to think how many times I've missed it. I suspect that it's not just men who suffer. Some of our female patients with "diastolic dysfunction" and overflow incontinence seem to suffer from backpressure that finds its way into the pulmonary vasculature.

Melissa Walton-Shirley, MD
Read more on Medscape.


NYU Langone tests new transcatheter device.

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