Could potentially reduce unnecessary hospital admissions.
By Raif Karera
A new, highly sensitive blood test may help doctors quickly rule out heart attack for almost two-thirds of people who seek emergency room treatment for chest pain, a new study has suggested.
Researchers claim said their findings could potentially reduce unnecessary hospital admissions and substantially lower health-care costs.
The scientists at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland have discovered that the level of a protein in the blood can indicate whether a patient will suffer a life threatening heart attack.
They claim that around 400,000 people could be sent home immediately just be checking for troponin in the heart, saving millions of pounds. Troponin at low levels suggests that a heart attack is unlikely, according to The Telegraph.
“Until now, there were no quick ways to rule out a heart attack within the emergency department,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Anoop Shah. “Over the last two decades, the number of hospital admissions due to chest pain has tripled. The overwhelming majority of these patients do not have a heart attack,” Shah said.
For the study, the researchers measured troponin levels in more than 6,000 patients admitted to the hospital with chest pain, and assessed their risk for heart attack and death from heart attack within 30 days, reported HealthDay.
“This study shows that low plasma cardiac troponin concentrations at presentation identify up to two-thirds of patients who are at very low risk of heart attack and could be safely discharged from the Emergency Department. Use of this approach is likely to have major benefits for both patients and healthcare providers,” Shah informed The Guardian.