While there is plenty of literature for risk prediction of cardiovascular disease and preventive therapies, risk estimates are less well known for patients aged > 80 years. There is a need to address this gap in knowledge, as the health status of very elderly people will increasingly impact on health care. A detailed study carried out in Beijing by Zhu et al., published in this journal, describes the 5-year risk of cardiovascular disease in 724 very elderly Chinese patients – […]

B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) has been recognized as a very useful marker for the detection of acute and chronic left ventricular dysfunction, both systolic and diastolic, that can be present in the context of sudden and prolonged myocardial ischemia. , These are the first steps in the ischemic cascade, leading to cell necrosis. For that reason, natriuretic peptides are usually elevated in the context of acute coronary syndromes. Myocardial ischemia, even in the absence of left ventricular dysfunction, augments cardiac […]