Diagnostic accuracy is critical for the identification and treatment of patients with potential cardiac disease. There is now an ever-increasing reliance on the measured levels of diverse proteins (i.e. markers) whose presence in varying amounts can suggest certain cardiovascular pathologies and help to identify optimal therapeutic alternatives. Cardiac Markers: Current and Future Applications is designed to familiarize the reader with these concepts, and to facilitate the application of these concepts to patients with cardiac disease.

The chapters in this monograph detail the past, present, and potential future of markers used for the detection of myocardial injury and for risk assessment as part of a cardiovascular disease work-up strategy. The strengths of this extensive overview, written by many of the current leaders in the field, lie in the evidence presented in addressing analytical/technical, clinical, and outcome-assessments of each biomarker currently used in clinical practice, and for those being investigated as potential cutting-edge tools. Clinical cardiologists, pathologists, researchers, and critical and primary care physicians interested in the clinical application of blood-based assays in cardiac patients will all learn from this monograph.

Jesse E. Adams, MD, FACC, is with the University of Louisville, Division of Cardiology. He has published scientific papers in multiple journals including the New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Fred S. Apple, PhD, is with the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at Hennepin County Medical Center. He is a professor at the University of Minnesota Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology. Dr. Apple also serves as an Associate Editor for the journal Clinical Chemistry.