The future of heart attack diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.
High-sensitivity troponin test.
- Approved for use in the United States in 2017.
- The high-sensitivity troponin test is a blood test 10 times more sensitive than the older troponin test and therefore capable of detecting significantly smaller amounts of troponin.
- A 2018 study conducted by researchers at the Karolina Institutet in Sweden and published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology assesses the benefits of this blood test. The results of the study, which included nearly 88,000 patients — roughly half of whom had been diagnosed by the high-sensitivity test and half of whom had been diagnosed by the conventional test -- carry implications not only for successful diagnosis of a heart attack but also for a patient’s risk for a future heart attack.
- Patients diagnosed with this high-sensitivity troponin test appear to be at lower risk of suffering a future heart attack.
Pharmaceutical developments.
- A recent study conducted by researchers at the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London have implicated the protein MAP4K4 in heart myocyte (muscle cell) death during a heart attack.
- They have developed a potential intravenous drug targeting this protein that, if administered in the first few hours following a heart attack, has been shown in mice to decrease tissue damage by 60 percent. The researchers expect rigorous safety testing of this drug and a clinical trial on patients to begin as early as 2021.
References
About heart attacks. (2019). Retrieved from American Heart Association website: https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/heart-attack/about-heart-attack
Åkesson, A., Larson, S. C., Discacciati, A., & Wolk, A. (2014). Low-Risk Diet and lifestyle habits in the primary prevention of myocardial infarction in men. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 64(13). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2014.06.1190
Fiedler, L. R., Chapman, K., Xie, M., Maifoshie, E., Jenkins, M., Golforoush, P. A., . . . Schneider, M. D. (2019). MAP4K4 inhibition promotes survival of human Stem Cell-derived Cardiomyocytes and Reduces Infarct Size In Vivo. Cell Stem Cell, 24(4). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stem.2019.01.013
Odqvist, M., Andersson, P.-O., Tygesen, H., Eggers, K. M., & Holzmann, M. J. (2018). High-sensitivity troponins and outcomes after myocardial infarction. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 71(23). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2018.03.515
Our concept of heart attack is changing. (2013). Retrieved from Harvard Health Publishing website: https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/our-concept-of-heart-attack-is-changing
Risk factors of a heart attack. (2019). Retrieved from Upstate University Hospital website: https://www.upstate.edu/cardiovascular/risks.php
About heart attacks. (2019). Retrieved from American Heart Association website: https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/heart-attack/about-heart-attack
Åkesson, A., Larson, S. C., Discacciati, A., & Wolk, A. (2014). Low-Risk Diet and lifestyle habits in the primary prevention of myocardial infarction in men. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 64(13). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2014.06.1190
Fiedler, L. R., Chapman, K., Xie, M., Maifoshie, E., Jenkins, M., Golforoush, P. A., . . . Schneider, M. D. (2019). MAP4K4 inhibition promotes survival of human Stem Cell-derived Cardiomyocytes and Reduces Infarct Size In Vivo. Cell Stem Cell, 24(4). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stem.2019.01.013
Odqvist, M., Andersson, P.-O., Tygesen, H., Eggers, K. M., & Holzmann, M. J. (2018). High-sensitivity troponins and outcomes after myocardial infarction. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 71(23). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2018.03.515
Our concept of heart attack is changing. (2013). Retrieved from Harvard Health Publishing website: https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/our-concept-of-heart-attack-is-changing
Risk factors of a heart attack. (2019). Retrieved from Upstate University Hospital website: https://www.upstate.edu/cardiovascular/risks.php