Prognostic value of combining echocardiography and natriuretic peptide levels in patients with heart failure

Heart failure (HF) is still a global public health issue, despite the enormous progress made in its diagnosis and treatment. More often than not, acute or chronic decompensated HF leads to hospitalization and presents a dismal prognosis. Evidently, clinical symptoms alone are not reliable enough guidance for the HF treatment; therefore, parameters able to identify adverse prognoses are valuable in tailoring treatment regimens for individual patients. Echocardiography and natriuretic peptides (NPs) have demonstrated their capacities in giving independent diagnostic and prognostic information regarding patients with HF. Although abnormalities either of an echocardiographic index of left ventricular function or of an NP denote an increased risk of mortality or HF, the highest risk comes from abnormalities of both left ventricular function and NP levels. In this review, we survey the most recent publications exploring the utility of NP levels and echocardiographic indices integration, claimed to offer powerful incremental prognostication in patients with established HF.