The new £5 blood test that warns of heart attack danger
AMOTHER who suffered t wo heart attacks in two years has become one of the first British patients to benefit from a revolutionary blood test that can flag up life-threatening cardiac problems within minutes.
Roisin Falconer, 40, a primary school teacher from Edinburgh, underwent the screening last month at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary after once more experiencing ‘terrifying’ chest pains.
Currently, patients suffering from heart attack-type symptoms must be admitted to hospital for repeated testing over 12 hours to determine if they are truly at risk or simply suffering from a less severe problem such as muscle strain, indigestion or even heartburn.
The new test, which is made by medical firm Abbott and costs just £5 per patient, measures levels of a protein in the blood that is produced by the heart when it is damaged, prior to a full-blown heart attack.
There are hopes it could reduce the number of patients being admitted to hospital by two-thirds.
‘Now the vast majority of those with chest pains can expect to be told in less than an hour that their results show they have not had a heart attack, or are likely to have one within at least the next 30 days,’ says Dr Anoop Shah, clinical lecturer in cardiology at Edinburgh University, who led the study. ‘We can expect the first patients who would normally have been admitted to wards, putting huge pressure on hospitals, to be sent home within an hour starting next month, once doctors feel comfortable with diagnosing on the basis of new, more accurate data.’
Dr Shah added that he hoped international cardiology guidelines would be rewritten to recommend the test – which has proven to be 99.5 per cent accurate – for use by hospitals within 18 months.
The British Heart Foundation, which funded the study, published this month in the medical journal The Lancet, is now carrying out a wider trial of more than 26,000 patients to assess other impacts of using the test.
Study co-author Dr Atul Anand said: ‘It can be a devastating blow to learn you’ve had a heart attack. We’d much rather be able to rule out this diagnosis early and prevent unnecessary stress and an overnight stay in hospital.
‘This research has highlighted a quick way to rule out a heart attack in A&E. With further results from this clinical trial, we hope to have enough evidence to change clinical guidelines to ensure more accurate diagnosis of heart attacks.’ Mrs Falconer – who has three daughters, Isla, seven, Beth, five, and two-year-old Isabella – says: ‘Since being admitted as an emergency twice within a week two years ago, I’ve worried that every chest pain I feel is lifethreatening. I was rushed by ambulance to A&E last month because I had the worst pains since my two heart attacks, and my thoughts immediately went to who would care for my girls.
‘The relief at being told in less than an hour that I was not having an attack or about to have one instead of needing to wait a whole day or overnight to get the all-clear was indescribable.’
Mrs Falconer, who suffers from a condition known as spontaneous coronary artery dissection, suffered her first heart attack aged 38. ‘The pains the first time were only in my arms, so being told I’d had a heart attack was a shock,’ she says. ‘My condition is essentially due to a torn heart artery that can’t be surgically repaired, so I am on medication.
‘But I suffer chest pains at certain times every month. I have to judge how bad the pains are, and four times I have felt scared enough to go to A&E.
‘Every time my husband has had to stop work and drop everything in order to care for the girls.
‘It’s been so stressful having a blood test and then having to be admitted to a ward to wait for a repeat test, all the time wondering whether my life is in danger.
‘Now it will be a relief, should I need to go back to A&E again, to know a simple blood test can give me reassurance within minutes.’
Dr Shah adds: ‘The new test measures the patient’s level of troponin – a protein in the blood which shows the heart is under threat from injury – to a much more accurate level than has been possible before.’ Professor Jeremy Pearson, associate medical director at the BHF, said: ‘A faster, more accurate diagnosis of whether chest pain is caused by a heart attack would be better for patients and save the NHS money. ‘We want to ensure no heartattack diagnosis is missed but we equally don’t want to see people go through unnecessary tests and spend extended periods in hospital unless it is essential. ‘The evidence shows that you can quickly and confidently rule out a heart attack without compromising patient safety.’