Cardiac and renal diseases often coexist and patients with cardiac and renal failure have high morbidity and mortality. Cardiorenal syndromes (CRSs) are disorders of the heart and kidneys whereby dysfunction in one organ may induce dysfunction in the other organ. Five subtypes of CRSs have been defined by the Acute Dialysis Quality Initiative Consensus Group. There is a need for early detection...

Emergency physicians’ ongoing quest for the perfect biochemical marker is understandable, if quixotic. After all, we constantly balance the increasing pressures of emergency department (ED) overcrowding with the desire to provide optimum care to each patient. This dilemma is especially critical in the assessment of chest pain. Studies repeatedly show that 2%–6% of patients with acute myocardial...

In their state-of-the-art paper on biomarkers in acute cardiac disease (1), Dr. Jaffe and colleagues list creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB) as a “potentially outdated marker.” However, CK-MB has a specific utility in the diagnosis of reinfarction (2), and it cannot be replaced by the cardiac troponins for this purpose. By following up the time course of rise and fall of CK-MB, an interruption in the p...

BACKGROUND Hyperthyroidism has substantial effects on the circulatory system. The cardiac biomarkers NT-proBNP and troponin I (cTNI) have proven useful in identifying cats with myocardial disease but have not been extensively investigated in hyperthyroidism. HYPOTHESIS Plasma NT-proBNP and cTNI concentrations are higher in cats with primary myocardial disease than in cats with hyperthyroidism...

Cardiac biomarkers such as CK-MB, troponins, and myoglobin provide the basis for the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) through identifi cation of the necrosis of myocardial cells in the heart. For emergency physicians, or any clinician evaluating and treating patients presenting to the hospital with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), ischemic changes on the 12-lead electrocardiogram or...

BACKGROUND Sophisticated methods of cardiac imaging have the potential to revolutionize the care of patients with cardiovascular disease. The benefits of these state-of-the art imaging techniques can be enhanced by their use in combination with new cardiac biomarkers. This review addresses potentially useful interactions between imaging and biomarkers. CONTENT Areas were defined in which the ...