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World J Cardiol. Dec 26, 2016; 8(12): 719-727
Published online Dec 26, 2016. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v8.i12.719
Cardiac biomarkers in pediatric heart disease: A state of art review
Benedict A Fernandes, Kevin O Maher, Shriprasad R Deshpande
Benedict A Fernandes, Department of Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital of Illinois, University of Illinois, Peoria, IL 61637, United States
Kevin O Maher, Shriprasad R Deshpande, Pediatric Cardiology, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, United States
Author contributions: All authors contributed to this paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: None of the authors have any conflicts of interest to declare. No financial or intellectual conflicts to disclose.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Shriprasad R Deshpande, MD, MS, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Medical Director, Mechanical Circulatory Support Program, Pediatric Cardiology, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Emory University, 1405 Clifton Rd NE, Atlanta, GA 30322, United States. deshpandes@kidsheart.com
Telephone: +1-404-6947739 Fax: +1-770-4889480
Received: August 15, 2016
Peer-review started: August 16, 2016
First decision: September 6, 2016
Revised: September 27, 2016
Accepted: October 22, 2016
Article in press: October 24, 2016
Published online: December 26, 2016
Processing time: 126 Days and 23.3 Hours
Abstract

Every year there are more than 11000 hospitalizations related to heart failure in children resulting in significant morbidity and mortality. Over the last two decades, our understanding, diagnosis and management of pediatric heart failure is evolving but our ability to prognosticate outcomes in pediatric heart acute heart failure is extremely limited due to lack of data. In adult heart failure patients, the role of cardiac biomarkers has exponentially increased over the last two decades. Current guidelines for management of heart failure emphasize the role of cardiac biomarkers in diagnosis, management and prognostication of heart failure. It is also noteworthy that these biomarkers reflect important biological processes that also open up the possibility of therapeutic targets. There is however, a significant gap present in the pediatric population with regards to biomarkers in pediatric heart failure. Here, we seek to review available data regarding cardiac biomarkers in the pediatric population and also explore some of the emerging biomarkers from adult literature that may be pertinent to pediatric heart failure.

Keywords: Pediatric heart failure; Biomarkers; Cardiac; Outcomes; Congenital heart disease

Core tip: Biomarkers such as BNP, ST2 are well established in adult heart failure. Emerging data supports the use of some of these biomarkers for diagnosis, monitoring and prognostication of pediatric heart disease. Continued research is needed to better understand these established and emerging biomarkers. Here, we review the available data regarding cardiac biomarkers in the pediatric population and also explore some of the emerging biomarkers from adult literature that may be pertinent to pediatric heart disease.