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Health Topics Being able to identify which patients are at the highest risk for a heart attack before life-threatening symptoms strikehas long been the holy grail of prevention. A new blood test could help predict heart attack danger by checking for certain cells that signal impending risk, according to a new study published in Physical Biology. The test could be a major breakthrough, since the researchers report that, The ability to identify individuals at the greatest risk of heart attack before its clinical manifestation is considered the most important unmet need in cardiovascular medicine. In the study, a new fluid biopsy technique successfully distinguished between patients who were being treated for a recent heart attack and those in a healthy control group. "Our results were so significant relative to the healthy controls that the obvious next step is to assess the usefulness of the test in identifying patients during the early stages of a heart attack, study coauthor Peter Kuhn said in a statement.
To find out more about the new test and other ways to predict future heart attack risk, I talked to Amy Doneen, ARNP, medical director of the Heart Attack & Stroke Prevention Center in Spokane, Washington.
The screening panel used in the Cleveland HeartLab/MDVIP study consisted of several lab tests that are available separately through medical providers, including Doneen, who uses a fire panel of blood and urine tests to check her patients for signs of arterial inflammation, along with ultrasound imaging to look for plaque in artery walls. Think of plaque as kindling, says Doneen. Inflammation is what lights the matchand can ignite a heart attack if there is plaque in your arteries. In this study, the three most predictive blood tests to check for heart attack risk were: Myeloproxidase (MPO). People with high levels of MPO in their blood are up to twice as likely to suffer heart attacks as those with lower levels, according to Cleveland HeartLab. MPO is an inflammatory enzyme released into the bloodstream at areas of blood-vessel injury, such as vulnerable plaque that could cause a heart attack. In the study, this marker was the most predictive of short-term heart attack risk. Lp-PLA2. The second most predictive marker in the study, Lp-PLA2 levels, if elevated, can be an indicator of elevated near-term risk for either a heart attack or stroke. Hs-CRP. Also known as high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, this marker has been linked to increased heart attack risk in many studies and is included in the Reynolds Risk Score, a tool medical providers use to calculate patients future risk for heart attack, stroke, or other major heart disease in the next ten years. However, there can also be other reasons why Hs-CRP may rise, such as an infection, points out Doneen.