A new test trialled in New Zealand could tell doctors in just 15 minutes whether a patient is at risk of suffering a possible heart attack.
Heart disease remains our country's biggest killer. On average, one New Zealander succumbs to it every 15 minutes – and health authorities expect rates to climb over coming decades.
Now, researchers have found a way to crucially cut down the amount of time it takes to rule out heart attack risk, through a quick and accurate bedside blood test that can be performed in emergency departments.
One of the lead authors of a just-published paper describing the test, Associate Professor John Pickering, said the development could make a big difference.
When a patient came into an ED with symptoms that suggested a potential heart attack, current laboratory blood-testing procedures could take one to two hours to reveal the risk level, whereas with the new test could yield a result within 15 minutes.