Troponin-Guided Heart Failure Therapy: Are We There Yet?

AbstractPurpose of reviewBiomarkers are widely used in medicine and the natriuretic peptides are the prototypical biomarker for heart failure aiding in diagnosis, prognosis, and biomarker-guided therapy. Cardiac troponins are mostly known for their role in diagnosing acute coronary syndrome, but they also play an important role in heart failure management.Recent findingsCurrent guidelines support using troponin for diagnosing ischemia as the cause of heart failure decompensation and prognosticating the risk for morbidity and mortality in acute and chronic heart failure. Recently, novel heart failure therapies have been shown to reduce troponin levels with a concurrent reduction in morbidity and mortality suggesting serial troponin measurements can be used as a surrogate for effectiveness of therapy.SummaryTroponin is prognostic for morbidity and mortality in heart failure and may provide a means for assessing the effectiveness of therapies. Recent studies suggest troponin could be used for guiding heart failure therapy, but further studies are needed specifically testing this role.
Source: Current Emergency and Hospital Medicine Reports - Category: Emergency Medicine Source Type: research