Siemens Healthineers offers new way to detect heart failure

Siemens Healthineers has added the NT‑proBNPII (PBNPII) assay to its comprehensive cardiac menu on the Atellica^® Solution to help diagnose heart failure. The PBNPII assay supports timely patient care with a 10-minute time-to-first-result.

Siemens Healthineers now offers both natriuretic peptide tests to support choice and flexibility, as both assays can run on either the company’s Atellica^® IM or Atellica^® CI analyzer.

N-terminal proBNP (NT-proBNP) and Brain or B-type natriuretic peptides (BNP) are cardiac markers of stress that are released in response to increased ventricular filling pressure. Both acute and non-acute heart failure are difficult to diagnose because the symptoms are similar to other health conditions. Elevated levels of either NT-proBNP or BNP are associated with heart failure, and they are both recommended biomarkers to aid in diagnosis. Natriuretic peptide assays make it possible to quickly, efficiently, and cost-effectively¹ measure BNP and NT-proBNP concentration levels in the blood, helping to enable clinicians to more effectively diagnose heart failure and begin appropriate therapeutic treatment. Using natriuretic peptide assays helps reduce time to diagnosis and treatment, and can help significantly lower the rates of misdiagnosis^2,3.

Physicians typically request blood tests to measure natriuretic peptides for patients presenting to the emergency department or in outpatient settings with clinical suspicion of new onset or worsening heart failure. With both NT-proBNPII and BNP assays available alongside guideline acceptable High-Sensitivity Troponin I on the high-volume Atellica Solution and mid-volume Atellica CI Analyzer, clinical laboratories now have choice and flexibility to consider the testing preferences of their physicians. This also helps support workflow standardization and clinical equivalence among satellite laboratories — factors critical to more efficient laboratory operations and patient care within a health network.

“The addition of the NT-proBNPII assay to the Atellica platform is an important development,” said Dr. James Januzzi, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Chief Scientific Officer at the Baim Institute for Clinical Research and a pioneer in natriuretic peptide testing. “NT-proBNP is a valuable adjunct to clinical care of patients with suspected or proven heart failure in the ED and outpatient care settings. Given the clinical flexibility in choice of NT-proBNP and BNP on one instrument coupled with excellence and global reach of Siemens Healthineers technology, this is a welcome advance for patient care.”

References:
1. Mueller C., Scholer A., Laule-Kilian K., Martina B., Schindler C., Buser P., et al. Use of B-Type Natriuretic Peptide in the Evaluation and Management of Acute Dyspnea. New England Journal of Medicine. 2004 Feb 12;350(7):647–54.
2. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11216950/
3. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15820160/

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