Test can tell if you’re having a heart attack in just minutes

A NEW blood test could mean hundreds of thousands of patients with suspected heart attacks being sent home from hospital within minutes, after being given the all-clear.

More than two million people a year arrive at A&E departments suffering chest pains, and have to undergo a battery of tests, sometimes taking days.

In around 90 per cent of cases the signs turn out to be a false alarm.

Scientists from King’s College London have now developed a test which is far more sensitive in detecting damage to the heart muscle – meaning that almost half of patients can be given an accurate diagnosis on the spot. If rolled out across the NHS, more than 350,000 patients a year could be sent home within 15 minutes, the findings suggest.

At present all suspected heart-attack cases undergo a blood test when they arrive at A&E then a second, three hours later, which is designed to detect damage to the heart muscle.

The new test looks for the biomarker cardiac myosin-binding protein which has been found to be more sensitive at detecting damage to the heart muscle than troponin, the current biomarker. The test – which could be rolled out across the NHS in the five years – can therefore lead to more rapid diagnosis.

The study, which covered more than 2,000 people, was funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and was published in the journal Circulation. ♦ Stem cells taken from the umbilical cords of babies can help repair damaged hearts and improve their function, a new study suggests.

Until recently it was thought the damage was irreparable, but the research suggests that intravenous infusions of stem cells could help regenerate the organ. The findings were published in the journal Circulation Research.