Use of Cardiac Biomarkers for the Diagnosis of Myocardial Infarction and Heart Failure.

Acute myocardial infarctions and heart failure compose the most common cardiac diseases and both present a diagnostic challenge. To aid clinicians in this task, an array of biomarkers, molecules representing different (patho-) physiologic mechanisms, have become available. This review aims to give an overview over this fast growing field, with an emphasis on the clinically most used (cardiac troponin and B-type natriuretic peptide), while also providing compact up-to-date information concerning new developments.