The Novel Cardiac Biomarkers

The concept of the cardiovascular continuum introduced during the early 1990s created a holistic view of the chain of events connecting cardiovascular-related risk factors with the progressive development of pathological-related tissue remodelling and ultimately heart failure and death. Understanding of the tissue-specific changes and new technologies developed over the last 25–30 years enabled tissue remodelling events to be monitored in vivo and cardiovascular disease to be diagnosed more reliably than before. The tangible product of this evolution was the introduction of a number of biochemical markers such as troponin I and T which are now commonly used in clinics to measure myocardial damage. However biomarkers that can detect specific earlier stages of the cardiovascular continuum have yet to be generated and utilised. The majority of the existing markers are useful only in the end stages of the disease where few successful intervention options exist.