Next generation natriuretic peptide measurement.

Plasma measurement of natriuretic peptides is a "must" for clinical laboratories. For the next generation measurement, the unraveling of the molecular complexity of the peptides points toward a more qualitative assessment, as the posttranslational processing also changes with disease. Changes in the molecular heterogeneity could in itself contain valuable information of clinical status, and the time seems right for industry and dedicated researchers in the field to get together and discuss the next generation natriuretic peptide measurement. In such an environment, new strategies can be developed with the mutual aim of making already very good plasma markers even better.