Science Letters

An update of biomarkers in heart failure

Sondagur Abdool Russeed Ziyad, Abdul Aleem Khan, Xinli Li*

Cardiology Department, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, 300 Guangzhou Road, Nanjing, China, 210029

Abstract

Cardiac biomarkers are substances that are liberated into the blood as a result of injury or stress to the heart. Biomarkers have 2 vital functions: Firstly, they aid in understanding the pathophysiology of disease, and secondly assist in making diagnosis, prognosis, or treatment feedback. In recent past, biomarker tests have been considered as an elective supplement in diagnosing patients suspicious of heart failure (HF). There is an increasing enthusiasm in the advancement of novel biomarkers, and a large variety of tests have been lately suggested. In this review, we have described a short introduction to these biomarkers along with their recent advances.

Keywords: Biomarkers; Heart failure; Prognosis.

Received December 12, 2013; Revised February 21, 2014; Accepted February 27, 2014

Corresponding author: Xinli Li; Phone: +8613611573111; E-mail: xinli3267@yeah.net; Fax: 86-25-83673396