title: Natriuretic peptides in the diagnosis and management of heart failure.
abstract: The natriuretic peptides are a family of related hormones that play a crucial role in cardiovascular homeostasis. They have recently emerged as potentially important clinical markers in heart failure. Recent data have suggested an important role for these markers in establishing the diagnosis of heart failure in patients with unexplained dyspnea in both acute care and ambulatory settings. Other clinical uses of the natriuretic peptides, such as screening for asymptomatic ventricular dysfunction, establishing prognosis or guiding titration of drug therapy, are under investigation but have not yet sufficiently been validated for widespread clinical use.
authors.affiliation: Outcomes Research Group, Duke Clinical Research Institute, and the Division of Cardiology and Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27705, USA.
authors.forename: G Michael
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Felker
authors.forename: John W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Petersen
authors.forename: Daniel B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Mark
mesh_terms: D009320:Atrial Natriuretic Factor / Q000097:blood* / Q000502:physiology; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D004417:Dyspnea / Q000097:blood / Q000209:etiology; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain / Q000097:blood* / Q000502:physiology; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000097:blood; D011379:Prognosis; D012372:ROC Curve; D012016:Reference Values; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / Q000175:diagnosis
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D010446:Peptide Fragments; C109794:pro-brain natriuretic peptide (1-76); D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain; D009320:Atrial Natriuretic Factor