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The following question refers to Section 5.1 of the 2022 AHA/ACC/HFSA Guideline for the Management of Heart Failure.
The question is asked by University of Colorado internal medicine resident Dr. Hirsh Elhence, answered first by advanced heart failure faculty at the University of Chicago and Co-Chair for the CardioNerds Critical Care Cardiology Series Dr. Mark Belkin, and then by expert faculty Dr. Biykem Bozkurt.
Dr. Bozkurt is the Mary and Gordon Cain Chair, Professor of Medicine, Director of the Winters Center for Heart Failure Research, and an advanced heart failure and transplant cardiologist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX. She is former President of HFSA, former senior associate editor for Circulation, and current Editor-In-Chief of JACC Heart Failure. Dr. Bozkurt was the Vice Chair of the writing committee for the 2022 Heart Failure Guidelines.
The Decipher the Guidelines: 2022 AHA / ACC / HFSA Guideline for The Management of Heart Failure series was developed by the CardioNerds and created in collaboration with the American Heart Association and the Heart Failure Society of America. It was created by 30 trainees spanning college through advanced fellowship under the leadership of CardioNerds Cofounders Dr. Amit Goyal and Dr. Dan Ambinder, with mentorship from Dr. Anu Lala, Dr. Robert Mentz, and Dr. Nancy Sweitzer. We thank Dr. Judy Bezanson and Dr. Elliott Antman for tremendous guidance.
A 63-year-old man with a past medical history of hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus presents for routine follow-up. He reports feeling in general good health and enjoys 2-mile walks daily. A review of systems is negative for any symptoms. Which of the following laboratory studies may be beneficial for screening? | |
A | NT-proBNP |
B | CK-MB |
C | Troponin |
D | C-reactive protein |
E | None of the above |
Explanation | The correct answer is A – NT-proBNP. This patient is at risk for HF (Stage A) given the presence of risk factors (hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus) but the absence of signs or symptoms of heart failure. Patients at risk for HF screened with BNP or NT-proBNP followed by collaborative care, diagnostic evaluation, and treatment in those with elevated levels can reduce combined rates of LV systolic dysfunction, diastolic dysfunction, and HF. The STOP-HF (St Vincent’s Screening to Prevent Heart Failure) study was a large single-center trial of patients at risk of HF that showed BNP-based screening reduced the composite endpoint of incident asymptomatic LV dysfunction with or without newly diagnosed HF. Therefore, for patients at risk of developing HF, natriuretic peptide biomarker-based screening followed by team-based care, including a cardiovascular specialist optimizing GDMT, can be useful to prevent the development of LV dysfunction (systolic or diastolic) or new-onset HF (Class 2a, LOE B-R). There is no indication for measuring troponin, CK-MB, or CRP at this time. |
Main Takeaway | In patients at risk for HF, screening for pre-HF using natriuretic peptide testing followed by team-based care may be helpful for preventing disease progression. |
Guideline Loc. | Section 5.1 |
