New blood test slashes death rates in patients attending A&E with suspected heart attacks
- Test helps diagnose patients with heart muscle injury, reducing the risk of premature death
- Experts say the increased sensitivity means it can spot signs of heart damage
A blood test increases the survival of patients who go to the emergency room with a suspected heart attack, a study shows.
The test helps doctors diagnose patients with a heart muscle injury, reducing their risk of death in the next five years.
Experts say the increased sensitivity means it can spot signs of heart damage that previous tests failed to detect, allowing better treatment.
According to research funded by the British Heart Foundation, the red flag has the potential to stop thousands of repeat heart attacks and deaths.
Researchers from the University of Edinburgh studied the outcomes of almost 50,000 people who arrived at ten emergency departments in Scotland between 2013 and 2016 with a suspected heart attack.
The test helps doctors diagnose patients with heart muscle injury, reducing their risk of death in the next five years
The test works by measuring very low levels of troponin in the blood, a protein released during a heart attack or when the heart is injured due to other heart conditions.
More than 10,000 patients had high levels of troponin, a protein released into the blood during a heart attack or when the heart is injured due to other heart conditions.
Because the high-sensitivity test picked up more subtle warning signs, about one in five of these patients were spotted by the new test – when previously they would have gone unnoticed.
This meant they could receive the specialist heart care needed to prevent more serious events in the future.
Dr. Ken Lee, clinical lecturer in cardiology at the University of Edinburgh, and lead author of the study, said: ‘In the past, doctors could have been wrongly reassured by the results of the less sensitive troponin test, dismissing patients who do not have heart disease.
‘This new high-sensitivity test is the tool they needed, allowing them to look deeper and helping them identify and treat both heart attacks and less obvious heart problems.
‘In our trial, the introduction of this test led to an impressive reduction in the number of future heart attacks and deaths in this risk group.’
Although the new test led to improvements for heart attack patients, those with heart muscle injury caused by other heart conditions, such as heart failure, valvular heart disease and arrhythmias, saw the greatest benefits.
These patients saw a nearly 10 percent drop in future hospital admissions and deaths in the five years after getting the new test, compared with those who had the less sensitive test, according to the findings published in the BMJ.
Professor Sir Nilesh Samani of the British Heart Foundation said: ‘Such a time-sensitive and life-threatening condition requires the very best diagnostic tests.
‘It is very encouraging to see that the new test being trialled here is better at predicting long-term outcomes for these patients, whether they have had a heart attack or another type of heart injury.’