Suite of blood tests could pick up ‘silent’ heart killer

Published on 25/09/2012 04:28

SCIENTISTS at Dundee University have discovered that a combination of blood tests could 
effectively pick up “silent” heart disease in thousands of people before the symptoms develop.

The potentially life-saving tests, which cost around £25 per patient, are already being used to confirm heart disease in patients with obvious symptoms.

But the new research has shown that the same combination of blood tests could detect low-level damage to the heart where there are no apparent signs of disease.

Professor Allan Struthers, the head of cardiovascular and diabetes medicine at Dundee University, said: “Many people think of heart disease as something that happens suddenly, but the truth is that it often
develops over years, or even decades. Yet, despite being the UK’s single biggest killer, the first sign someone has heart disease is often severe chest pain or
sudden death.

“We’ve shown a suite of available blood tests could identify early but silent heart disease. This could one day propel screening for pre-symptomatic heart disease into the same league as screening for some cancers achieved long ago.”