Bloodstream levels of a protein fragment called endotrophin can be used to predict outcomes in patients with a common form of heart failure, according to a study co-led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

The findings, published in New England Journal of Medicine Evidence, suggest that blood testing for endotrophin may eventually become a standard part of cardiologists' toolkits for assessing heart failure patients. The findings apply particularly to the common form of heart failure called heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF).

"HFpEF is an epidemic condition for which we needed better prognostic biomarkers, and this one could be very useful for identifying high-risk patients," said study lead and corresponding author Julio Chirinos, MD, Ph.D., an associate professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at Penn.

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