Healthcare Technology Featured Article

August 01, 2012

Soon, Heart Attacks May be Stopped Before they Happen


Many heart attacks do begin with aching in the chest, but the warning signs and symptoms aren't the same for everyone and silent heart attacks can occur with no or very mild symptoms.

Often the causes of a heart attack build over time, and can even begin in childhood.

But scientists have recently developed a new blood test that can predict heart attacks up to two weeks in advance, potentially saving countless livesThe test spots abnormal cells in the lining of blood vessels that can predict a heart attack a week or two before it happens.

Unfortunately, the test is not yet available for widespread commercial use (it's currently only in the testing phase), but it’s coming and is only something that can be considered great news for the 785,000 Americans who will have a first heart attack this year and another 470,000 have had one or more, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women and one in four people will have a heart attack in their lifetimes, the CDC said.

"The ability to diagnose an imminent heart attack has long been considered the holy grail of cardiovascular medicine," Dr. Eric Topol, the study's principal investigator, said in a press release. "This has been a tremendous collaboration... which has resulted in an important discovery that may help to change the future of cardiovascular medicine."

A heart attack occurs when an area of plaque ruptures in an artery, forming a blood clot that blocks blood flow to the heart and damages heart tissue. But here’s something new: cardiologists believe that an attack typically starts days before the formation of the clot, which could allow people to get help before the heart actually is damaged.

Right now physicians can easily tell when you’re having a heart attack or just had one. But frighteningly so, every year, tens of thousands of patients feel very relieved walking away from the doctor's office after having passed a stress test, only to suffer a devastating heart attack within the next few weeks.

So what to do, if you’re at risk (and that includes me)? If further studies prove the blood test is reliable, doctors would monitor patients (like me) who are at risk of obstructive coronary artery disease and intervene – through suggesting lifestyle changes, like exercise and low-fat diets; medicine or surgery, when necessary, to prevent their patients from having a heart attack.

The authors of the study hope to have a commercial test developed in the next year or two.




Edited by Brooke Neuman
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