Clinical markers in heart failure: a narrative review

Abstract

Heart failure is a complex clinical syndrome that is one of the causes of high mortality worldwide. Additionally, healthcare systems around the world are also being burdened by the aging population and subsequently, increasing estimates of patients with heart failure. As a result, it is crucial to determine novel ways to reduce the healthcare costs, rate of hospitalizations and mortality. In this regard, clinical biomarkers play a very important role in stratifying risk, determining prognosis or diagnosis and monitoring patient responses to therapy. This narrative review discusses the wide spectrum of clinical biomarkers, novel inventions of new techniques, their advantages and limitations as well as applications. As heart failure rates increase, cost-effective diagnostic tools such as B-type natriuretic peptide and N-terminal pro b-type natriuretic peptide are crucial, with emerging markers like neprilysin and cardiac imaging showing promise, though larger studies are needed to confirm their effectiveness compared with traditional markers.

Keywords: Heart failure; biomarkers; diagnosis; healthcare cost; monitoring; prognosis; treatment.

Figure 1.

A suggested point-of-care testing regimen using both conventional and novel biomarkers for the management of heart failure. ST-2, soluble isoform of suppression of tumorigenicity 2. The color version of this figure is available at: http://imr.sagepub.com.