Spit in a tube to diagnose heart attack

Date:
August 26, 2020
Source:
European Society of Cardiology
Summary:
A saliva test could fast track heart attack diagnosis, according to
preliminary research. The innovative technique requires patients
to spit into a tube and provides results in 10 minutes, compared
to at least one hour for the standard blood test.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A saliva test could fast track heart attack diagnosis, according to
preliminary research presented today at ESC Congress 2020.


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The innovative technique requires patients to spit into a tube and
provides results in 10 minutes, compared to at least one hour for the
standard blood test.

Heart attacks need urgent diagnosis, followed by treatment to restore
blood flow to blocked arteries. Diagnosis is based on symptoms (such as
chest pain), an electrocardiogram (ECG) and a blood test for cardiac
troponin, a protein released into the blood when the heart muscle
is injured.

"There is a great need for a simple and rapid troponin test for
patients with chest pain in the pre-hospital setting," said study
author Dr. Roi Westreich of Soroka University Medical Centre, Beer
Sheva, Israel. "Currently troponin testing uses blood samples. In this preliminary study we evaluated the feasibility of a novel method using
saliva." The purpose of the study was to see if cardiac troponin could
be detected in the saliva of patients with heart muscle injury. Saliva
samples underwent a unique processing procedure to remove highly
abundant proteins.2 A total of 32 patients with heart muscle injury
(i.e. they had a positive cardiac troponin blood test) and 13 healthy volunteers were requested to provide saliva samples by spitting into a collecting tube. Then, half of each sample was processed, and the other
half remained in its natural state.

The researchers then tested the processed and unprocessed saliva
samples for cardiac troponin. "Since no test has been developed for
use on saliva, we had to use commercially available tests intended for
whole blood, plasma, or serum, and adjust them for saliva examination,"
said Dr. Westreich.

For patients, the researchers compared the results from the saliva samples (processed and unprocessed) with the blood samples. There was strong
agreement between the blood findings and the processed saliva, but not
saliva in its natural state. Some 84% of the processed saliva samples
tested positive for troponin, compared to just 6% of the unprocessed
saliva.

Among healthy participants, no cardiac troponin was detected in the
processed and unprocessed saliva samples.

Dr. Westreich said: "This early work shows the presence of cardiac
troponin in the saliva of patients with myocardial injury. Further
research is needed to determine how long troponin stays in the saliva
after a heart attack. In addition, we need to know how many patients
would erroneously be diagnosed with heart attack and how many cases would
be missed." The next steps in this research are to expand the number of patients being studied and create a prototype for a cardiac troponin test
using saliva. "This prototype will be tailor-made for processed saliva
and is expected to be more accurate than using a blood test on saliva,"
said Dr. Westreich. "It will be calibrated to show positive results when
saliva troponin levels are higher than a certain threshold and show a
yes/no result like a pregnancy test."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by European_Society_of_Cardiology. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


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Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200826083019.htm

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