THE QUESTION: When the heart is under stress, the blood appears to contain higher levels of a protein known as NT-proBNP. Might testing blood for this protein provide an advance warning of such events as heart attack?

THIS STUDY involved 987 people, mostly men, with stable coronary artery disease who were given blood and urine tests, treadmill tests and echocardiograms and were monitored for nearly four years. During this time, 256 of the participants had a heart attack, developed heart failure or died. Of that group, 134 people had the highest protein level among all the participants and 23 had the lowest. The risk of a complication, especially heart failure, increased as the NT-proBNP level rose.

WHO MAY BE AFFECTED BY THESE FINDINGS? People with coronary artery disease, which occurs when plaque builds up on arteries that supply blood to the heart, narrowing them and limiting blood flow. If the heart does not get enough blood, chest pain and heart attack can result and, over time, heart failure or arrhythmias can develop.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ January 16, 2007

Can a blood test predict a heart attack? Exciting new research suggests that the simple diagnostic tool of a blood test may help doctors determine the risk of cardiac events in patients with heart disease. What the research revealed is that the higher the level of the peptide known as NT-proBNP in a patient?s plasma, the greater the chance that the patient has of dying or having a cardiovascular event such as a heart attack or heart failure.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/ January 10, 2007

San Francisco researchers reported Tuesday that a blood test commonly given in hospital emergency rooms has proved highly effective in predicting the risk of heart attack in patients with coronary heart disease. The blood test measures levels of a natural protein known as proBNP, which heart muscle produces when it is under stress. "Physicians run a lot of tests on these patients, and this blood test does not replace any of them," said Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, a San Francisco General Hospital internist and lead author of the report, which was published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Source: http://www.sfgate.com/ January 10, 2007

Figuring out which heart patients are at greatest risk of serious complications, like heart attack, is a challenge for doctors. But new research out of U.C. San Francisco shows a simple blood test could help doctors make that determination. Echocardiograms and treadmill stress tests are the gold standards when it comes to testing for heart trouble. But now it appears a simple blood test offers doctors valuable information about their patients risk of heart attack or heart failure. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, M.D., U.C. San Francisco: "What we found was the levels of NT-proBNP at the beginning of our study could help us predict down the road who would go on to develop one of these complications."

Source: http://abclocal.go.com/ January 9, 2007

An inexpensive blood test may identify which heart disease patients are at the highest risk of a heart attack, allowing doctors to move more aggressively to help them. ?We are very good in this country at diagnosing heart disease,? said Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, of the University of California at San Francisco, lead author of the study. ?But we?re not very good at distinguishing who?s at high risk for future problems and starting them on preventive therapies,? she added.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/ January 9, 2007

An easy, inexpensive blood test used to evaluate heart failure patients also appears to gauge the risk of future heart complications and death in people with cardiovascular disease, researchers said. Almost 20 percent of patients with the highest levels of a protein called NT-proBNP died or had a heart attack or heart failure, compared with 2.6 percent of those with the lowest levels, their study found. ?The results of a simple blood test at the very beginning of our study seemed to be able to predict who, four years later, would go on to develop one of those complications,? said lead researcher Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo from the University of California, San Francisco.

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/ January 9, 2007