Now early prediction of Heart Attack is Possible
A blood test that can predict whether a person is at high risk of suffering from a heart attack has been developed by researchers at Scripps Translational Science Institute, and published in the journal Science Translational Medicine. The test can provide the doctor and patient with this vital information up to two weeks before an acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) is likely to occur.
Researchers have found oddly-shaped blood cells in heart attack patients, indicating that a blood test could help predict whether a patient is at risk of an imminent cardiac emergency.
The study by the Scripps Translational Science Institute (STSI) found that the endothelial blood cells from heart attack patients are abnormally large and misshapen, sometimes appearing with multiple nuclei.
That could make them reliable indicators of an impending heart attack, according to the study published this week in Science Translational Medicine.
"The ability to diagnose an imminent heart attack has long been considered the holy grail of cardiovascular medicine," said Eric Topol, the study's principal investigator and director of STSI.
Doctors have long been able to identify risk factors -- such as smoking, obesity and high cholesterol -- that can put patients at greater danger of heart disease, but cannot predict imminent attacks.
The study involved 50 patients who showed up at emergency rooms with heart attacks at four acute care hospitals in San Diego, California, and who were found to have the unusually shaped cells.
HEART DISEASE OVERVIEW
"With some additional validation, the hope is to have this test developed for commercial use in next year or two," said researcher Raghava Gollapudi.
"This would be an ideal test to perform in an emergency room to determine if a patient is on the cusp of a heart attack or about to experience one in the next couple of weeks.
"Right now we can only test to detect if a patient is currently experiencing or has recently experienced a heart attack."
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, causing some 800,000 deaths every year, according to the Center for Disease Control.
Team leader, cardiologist Eric Topol, explains that if this test is demonstrated to be reliable after further studies, doctors will be better equipped and informed to intervene with patients at very high risk of an imminent heart attack, and thus prevent the attack and the subsequent damage it can cause.
The authors explain that acute myocardial infarction is currently highly unpredictable, despite recent progress in the diagnoses and treatments of coronary artery disease. They add that doctors desperately need a clinical measurement that can predict an impending heart attack.
In this study, a blood test was devised that identifies specific cells that flake off when the blood vessel walls weaken - they are called CECs (circulating endothelial cells), and signal the initial stages of acute myocardial infarction.
Cardiologists believe that a heart attack typically commences days before the formation of a clot (which blocks blood flow to the heart). During the initial stages of a heart attack, the walls of the blood vessel weaken, they become eroded, attracting inflammatory cells, which in turn harm and damage the endothelial cells that line the inside of blood vessels. Endothelial cells are those that are inside the cellular lining of a tissue. Severe inflammation causes the CECs to mutate, they clump together, break off and get into the bloodstream.
The study involved 94 participants, 50 of them had had a heart attack while the other 44 had not (healthy controls). CEC blood levels among those who had had a heart attack were over four times higher compared to those in the healthy control group.
Not only were CEC blood levels much higher among the heart attack patients, but also their CECs had changed; they had either become larger, misshapen, and/or many had multiple nuclei.
Researchers have found oddly-shaped blood cells in heart attack patients, indicating that a blood test could help predict whether a patient is at risk of an imminent cardiac emergency.
The study by the Scripps Translational Science Institute (STSI) found that the endothelial blood cells from heart attack patients are abnormally large and misshapen, sometimes appearing with multiple nuclei.
That could make them reliable indicators of an impending heart attack, according to the study published this week in Science Translational Medicine.
"The ability to diagnose an imminent heart attack has long been considered the holy grail of cardiovascular medicine," said Eric Topol, the study's principal investigator and director of STSI.
Doctors have long been able to identify risk factors -- such as smoking, obesity and high cholesterol -- that can put patients at greater danger of heart disease, but cannot predict imminent attacks.
The study involved 50 patients who showed up at emergency rooms with heart attacks at four acute care hospitals in San Diego, California, and who were found to have the unusually shaped cells.
HEART DISEASE OVERVIEW
"With some additional validation, the hope is to have this test developed for commercial use in next year or two," said researcher Raghava Gollapudi.
"This would be an ideal test to perform in an emergency room to determine if a patient is on the cusp of a heart attack or about to experience one in the next couple of weeks.
"Right now we can only test to detect if a patient is currently experiencing or has recently experienced a heart attack."
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, causing some 800,000 deaths every year, according to the Center for Disease Control.
Team leader, cardiologist Eric Topol, explains that if this test is demonstrated to be reliable after further studies, doctors will be better equipped and informed to intervene with patients at very high risk of an imminent heart attack, and thus prevent the attack and the subsequent damage it can cause.
The authors explain that acute myocardial infarction is currently highly unpredictable, despite recent progress in the diagnoses and treatments of coronary artery disease. They add that doctors desperately need a clinical measurement that can predict an impending heart attack.
In this study, a blood test was devised that identifies specific cells that flake off when the blood vessel walls weaken - they are called CECs (circulating endothelial cells), and signal the initial stages of acute myocardial infarction.
Cardiologists believe that a heart attack typically commences days before the formation of a clot (which blocks blood flow to the heart). During the initial stages of a heart attack, the walls of the blood vessel weaken, they become eroded, attracting inflammatory cells, which in turn harm and damage the endothelial cells that line the inside of blood vessels. Endothelial cells are those that are inside the cellular lining of a tissue. Severe inflammation causes the CECs to mutate, they clump together, break off and get into the bloodstream.
The study involved 94 participants, 50 of them had had a heart attack while the other 44 had not (healthy controls). CEC blood levels among those who had had a heart attack were over four times higher compared to those in the healthy control group.
Not only were CEC blood levels much higher among the heart attack patients, but also their CECs had changed; they had either become larger, misshapen, and/or many had multiple nuclei.
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