BNP (brain natriuretic peptide) and NT-proBNP (N-terminal proBNP) are among the most utilized biomarkers currently available at bedside in emergency medicine. Two main issues influence this success: making diagnosis of heart failure is a daily challenge in emergency medicine; studies that validated the usefullness of BNP and NTproBNP are high quality intervention trials. Additionally, a considerable amount of data has been published on this topic. Recently, related natriuretic peptides, namely atrial NP (ANP), C NP(CNP) and Dendroaspis NP (DNP), have gained interest to understand pathophysiology of acute heart failure, and to be used as markers in human medicine. This synthetic review provides key messages about current knowledge on natriuretic peptides and diagnosis of acute cardiac failure in emergency medicine.