The present invention relates to diagnostic means and methods. Specifically, the present invention encompasses a method of diagnosing the cause of cardiac necrosis in a subject comprising determining the amount of a cardiac Troponin and the amount of a BNP-type peptide in a sample of subject suffering from cardiac necrosis and co mparing the amount of the said cardiac Troponin and the amount of the said BNP-type peptide to reference amounts, whereby the cause of the cardiac necrosis is to be diagnosed. The present invention, further, relates to a method of determining whether a subject suffering from cardiac necrosis is susceptible for a therapy against initial heart failure and a method for determining whether a subject suffering from cardiac necrosis is susceptible for a therapy against coronary heart disease. Also encompassed are diagnostic uses, devices and kits.