New Blood Test Enhances Heart Attack Diagnosis

Importance of Rapid Diagnosis

Hospitals must quickly identify which patients exhibiting heart attack symptoms are actually experiencing a heart attack. Timely medical intervention is crucial for individuals with a heart attack, yet not all patients presenting symptoms like chest pain are necessarily having one. Therefore, it is essential for healthcare providers to efficiently discern which patients require treatment.

Breakthrough in Blood Testing

American researchers have developed a novel blood test designed to expedite the confirmation of heart attacks. The findings of this study were published in the journal Circulation.

Improved Sensitivity of the New Test

The new blood test features enhanced sensitivity compared to earlier versions. It measures the levels of a protein known as cardiac troponin T (cTnT), which is typically present in heart muscle. This protein is only released into the bloodstream when the heart sustains damage. Patients with low levels of cTnT are generally unlikely to have experienced a recent heart attack.

Previous iterations of the test lacked sensitivity, only detecting cTnT after substantial accumulation in the blood, several hours following a heart attack. The latest version can reliably identify smaller quantities of cTnT, allowing for earlier measurement. However, experimental validation was necessary.

Study Methodology

In their study, researchers compared the new and old tests among hospital patients presenting with heart attack symptoms, including chest pain and shortness of breath. The participants had already undergone an ECG but had not tested positive for the most common and acute type of heart attack. It was crucial to definitively rule out the possibility of a heart attack in these patients. A total of 536 potential heart attack patients were tested.

Using the older cTnT test, it took three hours to confirm that 80% of the patients had not experienced a heart attack. In contrast, the new cTnT test could rule out a heart attack for 30% of the patients upon their admission to the emergency room. After one hour, another 25% could be ruled out, and after three hours, an additional 29%. Overall, the new test ruled out heart attacks in 84% of the patients tested, surpassing the performance of the older test.

Study Conclusions and Recommendations

After conducting follow-up studies, researchers determined that the new method did not overlook any heart attacks, demonstrating superior efficacy in ruling out potential cases. Moreover, it provided faster results for many patients; nearly one-third could be reassured almost immediately that they were not experiencing a heart attack, in contrast to the three-hour wait associated with the older test.

The researchers acknowledged that this trial was conducted in a single hospital and recommend that other institutions, with varied patient demographics and treatment protocols, should consider implementing their own evaluations of this new testing method. This rapid test presents a promising advancement in enhancing healthcare for patients suspected of having a heart attack.

Reference

Vigen R, Kutscher P, Fernandez F, Yu A, Bertulfo B, Hashim IA, Molberg K, Diercks DB, Metzger JC, Soto J, Alzubaidy D, Thibodeaux L, Joglar JA, de Lemos JA, Ras SR. Evaluation of a Novel Rule-Out Myocardial Infarction Protocol Incorporating High-Sensitivity Troponin T in a US Hospital. Circulation138:00-00 (2018). https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.118.033861