AHA 2008: Blood test identifies heart failure patients in ER
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
A new blood test identifies the sickest heart failure patients better than current tests used in US emergency departments, a trial has shown. Presented at the AHA meeting, the BACH study followed 1,641 patients who experienced difficulty breathing upon arrival at the emergency department. The researchers found that the MR-proADM test, developed by German firm Brahms, was prognostically accurate 73.1% of the time, making it superior to the commonly-used B-natriuretic peptide (BNP) test (60.6%) and the NTproBNP test (63%). The new test also predicted the 90-day mortality of these patients. The MR-proADM test indirectly measures adrenomedullin, which affects blood vessel dilation and is implicated in many cardiac and infectious diseases. It was CE marked for sale in Europe in October; US approval applications will be submitted in early 2009.