ST2 Levels in Blood Predict Outcomes for Cardiac Patients

A patient's ST2 level helps physicians make a prognosis for cardiac patients.

The ST2 level indicates change in cardiac status and development of cardiovascular complications such as heart failure, at critical clinical decision points, such as initial presentation with chest pain, after recovery from myocardial infarction, and in the cardiac intensive care unit.

The Presage ST2 assay was developed by Critical Diagnostics. It identifies patients at increased risk of morbidity and mortality from heart disease and helps physicians optimize patient care.

The protein cardiac biomarker was highlighted in three presentations at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) meeting held in New Orleans from April 2-5, 2011.

In a poster presentation, J. Zilinski et al. demonstrated in a study of 30 patients that measurement of ST2 can assist in care decisions in advanced stage heart failure patients. A second poster presented by S. Aldous et al. showed that levels of ST2 predicted heart failure and all cause mortality in patients presenting to the emergency department with chest pain. In the third poster presented by M. C. Kontos et al., the scientists showed that increased ST2 and brain naturietic peptide (BNP) levels identified post myocardial infarction (MI) patients who had clinical and echocardiograph variables associated with worse prognoses.

Referring to the posters displayed at the ACC meeting James Snider, president of Critical Diagnostics said, "The studies presented here show that ST2 can be a valuable tool for clinicians across the spectrum of heart failure: from predicting onset to predicting outcomes in late-stage patients. These clinical data continue to build evidence that ST2 may help aid physicians in clinical decision-making."

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