Heart failure is a chronic disease which manifests as fluid retention shortness of breath and lack of energy.  There is no cure now and patients tend to have declining heart function and increasing symptoms over time.  Doctors are able to manage the illness on a chronic basis to mitigate symptoms  with medications and procedures. Approximately 5 million Americans are believed to have been suffering from this disease. Shortness of breath also known as dyspnea is the common symptom associated with heart failure but it is quite often confused with asthma or other lung problems.  In a new study at American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2008 Stefan D. Anker M.D. Ph.D. co-principal researcher of the study and professor of cardiology and cachexia of the Charite Medical School in Berlin Germany reported that a new blood test can identify the sickest heart failure patients much better than the tests now being used in emergency departments.  Exacerbations of symptoms are common and often precipitate a visit to the emergency room for management.  Doctors have long sought a test to distinguish the sickest heart failure patients from those with less severe disease.  In the first half of this decade the BNP found increasing use as a test to quantify heart failure in hospitalized patients but researchers continue to seek improved ways to measure heart failure. In the trial 1 641 patients from 15 investigational centers from around the globe were studied with symptoms of difficulty in breathing upon arrival at the emergency department.  The studies main objectives were: first to reveal that MR-proADM better predicted 90-day mortality than either BNP or NT-proBNP; secondly that MR-proANP (Mid-Regional pro-Atrial Natriuretic Peptide) is non-inferior to BNP for the diagnosis of acute heart failure. The results established that the MR-proADM test was precise for prognosis of outcome of acute heart failure and quantitatively superior to both B-Natriuretic peptide BNP and NT-proBNP.  MR-proADM is CE labeled and is currently marketed in the European Union. Anker disclosed that MR-proADM corresponds to a hormone called adrenomedullin which enhancs blood vessel dilation and is concerned in many cardiac and infectious diseases. ADM the hormone has a short half life in the circulation so MR-proADM is used as a surrogate marker for it. Meanwhile Alan Maisel M.D. the study's principal investigator and a long-standing BNP researcher at the University of California San Diego Medical Center said a sizeable percentage of emergency room patients have heart failure and that the BNP and NTproBNP tests are being used to categorize heart failure patients in the emergency setting. Both these tests gauge elevations in proteins released by the distressed heart as it tries to keep the blood's salt and water balance stable. Dr. Anker concluded that he is very pleased with the outcome of the results of this study known as the BACH (Biomarkers in Acute Congestive Heart Failure) study. This fundamental heart failure trial shows MR-proADM is above all strong in predicting heart failure outcomes up to four weeks after initial assessment and the future will show if this test has the ability to compete with BNP in hospitals around the world.