Scientists have developed a wrist-worn device that could revolutionize the treatment of heart attacks by speeding up diagnosis — without the need to draw blood, one of the current methods.
In 2011, the mortality rate from myocardial infarction in Portugal was 24.2 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, with 4,366 deaths. There are thousands of people who also visit hospital emergencies due to chest pain.
These patients typically have varying symptoms, complex related health issues, and are often on multiple medications. Analyzing them is a difficult task.
This usually includes review medical historyperform cardiac tracing of the electrical activity of the heart (the electrocardiogram) and make a chest x-ray.
The electrocardiogram, or ECG, can show changes in heart rhythm associated with a heart attack in about 50% of patients. The rest do not have an altered rhythm and require further investigations, which include important blood tests.
One of the tests is for a protein found in heart cells called troponin. This protein plays a key role in causing heart muscle cells to contract and relax.
When cells run out of oxygen due to a blockage in the arteries that supply blood to the heart, cells begin to die and release troponin into the blood.
Troponin can be measured in a hospital laboratory from a sample taken from a patient — usually from a vein in the crook of the elbow or a catheter on the back of the hand. This test is repeated two to three hours after the patient is admitted to the hospital.
A change in the amount of troponin in the blood can indicate a heart attack. This is especially useful for patients who do not have ECG changes.
Patients diagnosed with a heart attack need urgent treatment, usually surgery, where a catheter is inserted into the blocked artery in the heart and a balloon is inflated to open the blockage. This procedure is called angioplasty.
In many cases, a device called a stent is inserted along with the balloon. When the balloon is deflated, the stent stays in place to keep the artery open.
But this troponin blood test requires someone to draw blood. It is common for people to be afraid of needles. Also, anxiety and stress can make chest pain worse.
No blood test required
The new wrist-worn device can measure troponin without taking a blood sample.
This device is worn on the wrist as a smartwatch. It uses infrared light through the layers of the skin to detect troponin in the bloodstream.
A recent study, published in the European Heart Journal – Digital Health, showed that this device can detect 90% of heart attacks within five minutes.
“With this level of accuracy, if you use this device and the result is positive, you are almost certain that this patient can be admitted for rapid diagnostic tests, treatment and intervention,” says lead author of the study, Partho P. .Sengupta.
If larger studies confirm these initial findings, this revolutionary troponin detection device could be useful for detect heart attacks in care clinics or in emergency departments caring for patients with chest pain.
This also means that patients would not need to wait for blood samples to be sent to the laboratory, analyzed and returned to the hospital.
This new wrist-worn device could speed up the diagnosis and treatment of patients with chest pain. The technology could also be used for other tests to detect blood clots, ectopic pregnancy or sepsis. And it can be the salvation for those who have a severe phobia of needles.
