The proposed study intends to evaluate the impact of the NT-proBNP assay on the diagnosis of heart failure in patients with dyspnea of unknown etiology presenting to the emergency room and admitted to the medical wards.~Patients will be consented and randomized to open or blinded NT-proBNP test performed within 90 minutes in a venous blood sample.~Evaluation of the ER diagnosis and final discharge diagnosis in admitted patients will be carried out in light of the NT-proBNP results.
The proposed study intends to evaluate the impact of the NT-proBNP assay on the diagnosis of heart failure in patients with dyspnea of unknown etiology presenting to the emergency room and admitted to the medical wards.