Washington (SmartAboutHealth) - A new blood test recently approved in Europe has been found to be far more effective at diagnosing heart failure patients.

A trial was presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2008 and involved a total of 1,641 patients from 15 different medical centers around the world.

It was known as the BACH trial, and compared a new type of blood test called MR-proADM to current tests such as BNP.

Upon testing, researchers found that the new type of test, MR-proADM was more accurate than current tests.

It was able to correctly pick out heart failure patients 73.1% of the time, compared to around 60% for BNP.

The blood test will soon be submitted to the FDA for approval in 2009.