|
Heart Disease In The News Bedside blood test improves diagnosis of heart attack In a multi-center trial reported in the latest issue of Circulation, investigators report that measuring blood enzymes at the bedside in the emergency room greatly sped the diagnosis of heart attacks. Normally, blood enzyme tests need to be sent to a laboratory for testing, which can produce a significant delay. In patients being evaluated for chest pain, the bedside test identified high risk patients an average of one hour faster than the standard laboratory test. The bedside test was not only quicker, but also detected elevations in 3 cardiac enzymes instead of the usual 1 enzyme. Rapid diagnosis of a heart attack is critical to treatment. In some institutions, hospital politics has prevented bedside testing from being used. Allowing clinicians to do blood testing at the bedside takes laboratory doctors out of the loop, a result which can impede adoption of this new technology. Article: How to survive the first 24 hours of a heart attack. |
Links to resources on heart attacks
What do you think? Enter the Heart Disease Forum:
