The novel cardiac biomarker ST2 was highlighted in a presentation at last month's 2011 Heart Failure Congress of the European Society of Cardiology in Gothenburg, Sweden. As this study and others have demonstrated, a patient's ST2 level can help a physician better predict prognosis in ambulatory, chronic heart failure patients, which can allow physicians to more appropriately tailor care.
"We concluded that measurement of ST2 may help us determine which patients are at highest risk," reports Dr. Antoni Bayes-Genis, Chair, Cardiology Service, Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol, "which should allow us to treat them more appropriately."
In this 891 patient study,1 both ST2 and NT-proBNP were good prognostic biomarkers of mortality. After adjustment for other significant clinical and therapeutic variables, both remained statistically significant independent prognostic factors. When patients were grouped according to ST2 and NT-proBNP median values, the combination of the two biomarkers significantly increased their prognostic discriminator capacity. Patients with both ST2 and NT-proBNP greater than or equal to the median were 5.5 times as likely to die as those with both values below their respective medians.
"We are pleased to continue our strong collaborations with the research community to generate compelling clinical evidence that ST2 predicts outcomes for ambulatory cardiovascular patients," said James Snider, President of Critical Diagnostics. "This study confirms, in a large European cohort, that ST2 is a powerful tool in the risk stratification of chronic heart failure patients, providing independent prognostic information beyond the baseline patient characteristics captured in clinical evaluation or using other biomarkers such as the natriuretic peptides."
About Critical Diagnostics and ST2
Critical Diagnostics develops products to help physicians optimize patient care in cardiovascular diseases, such as heart failure. The Company's highly sensitive Presage ST2 Assay--which has been evaluated in over 50 peer-reviewed publications, now spanning more than 25,000 subjects--measures the level of ST2 in blood, identifying patients at increased risk of morbidity and mortality.
ST2 signals the presence of adverse cardiac remodeling and fibrosis, which occurs in response to myocardial infarction (MI), ischemia, or worsening heart failure. Remodeling and fibrosis can also contribute to the development of future adverse events, such as secondary MI or sudden cardiac death, and to progression of heart failure.
The Presage ST2 Assay helps clinicians assess patient prognosis in order to better personalize their care. By selecting the most appropriate treatments and interventions for each patient, a physician can maximize the clinical benefit from increasingly limited healthcare resources.
The Presage ST2 Assay is CE Marked. It is not available for sale in the USA, pending FDA clearance.
References
1. A Bayes-Genis, M de Antonio, A Galán, A Urrutia, R Cabanes, LCano, B González, C Díez, T Pascual, J Lupón. High Sensitivity ST2 and Prognosis in Ambulatory Heart Failure Patients. European Journal of Heart Failure Supplements (2011 ) 10 ( S1 ), S258.
Source:
Critical Diagnostics