“…Biochemical markers have been used for decades to provide a noninvasive means of diagnosing cardiac injury . Numerous examples exist in the literature describing the use of myocardium-specific proteins as markers of congestive heart failure, myocardial infarction, cardiac necrosis, and other heart-related ailments. − Examples of cardiac markers include the troponins (cTnT, cTnI), cardiac natriuretic peptides (BNP, ANP), creatinine kinase isoenzyme MB (CK-MB), heart fatty acid binding protein (hFabp3), and myosin light chain (Myl3). − By evaluating the utility of proven clinical cardiac markers in veterinary species, a panel of biomarkers can be identified to diagnose cardiac injury in studies ranging from early discovery through clinical evaluation. Dolci and Panteghini outlined the key characteristics of an ideal cardiac biomarker as high sensitivity (early onset, high concentration, slow clearance), specificity (only present in target tissue, not detected in healthy subjects), good analytical characteristics, and good clinical characteristics (ability to influence patient therapy and outcome) .…”