Investigational Blood Test Predicts Patients At Risk Of Imminent Heart Attack Or Death

By Author: Scott eric
Total Articles: 8
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Published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, a robust, pivotal study states that, elevated levels of pregnancy associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) may predict risk of imminent heart attack or death in patients with non-ST segment elevation (NSTE) Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS).

This study of nearly 4,000 patients enrolled at 440 institutions in 17 countries demonstrated that patients with NSTE ACS and an elevated cPAPP-A result were at twice the risk for heart attack or death within 30 days of an initial coronary event compared to patients without an elevated cPAPP-A result. Moreover, patients with a high cPAPP-A result plus elevated values of other blood tests currently used for evaluation of patients in the emergency department with chest pain, were at fivefold risk for heart attack or death within 30 days compared to patients without an elevated cPAPP-A result, but with elevation in other blood markers like myeloma markers and lymphoma markers, suggestive of acute ...
... myocardial infarction (AMI).

These results are remarkable and potentially of great clinical significance as Emergency department physicians and cardiologists do not want to discharge patients who are at imminent risk of heart attack or death. This test predicted cardiac events that were missed by other blood tests that check for human leukocyte markers, and traditional risk factors. The profound prognostic value of this test may assist in discerning patients who require hospital admission from those who may be managed less aggressively in an outpatient environment, potentially saving patient lives and at the same time reducing healthcare costs.

PAPP-A is an enzyme — first identified in the placenta of pregnant women but also found at lower concentration in non-pregnant women and men — associated with coronary plaque destabilization or rupture. Plaque rupture and the ensuing thrombosis which occurs at the site of rupture is the leading cause of heart attack. While clinical models for the prediction of CV mortality after ACS are currently in use, prediction of recurrent ischemic events with high discrimination has been difficult. The cPAPP-A test appears to address this major unmet patient need and would provide physicians with a blood test to predict these events.

The findings of the study add to emerging evidence supporting cPAPP-A as a candidate prognostic marker of recurrent coronary events, and support continued investigation. Hospitalization for recurrent events occurs in up to one in every five patients, but prediction of these events has been difficult. In this context, findings with cPAPP-A are intriguing for its potential role as a clinical risk predictor.

Reference - https://www.beckmancoulter.com/wsrportal/page/newsDetail?id=GLB_BCI_152706&searchCorp=&searchProduct=&fromDateProduct=7_2012&toDateProduct=8_2012&fromDateCorp=7_2012&toDateCorp=8_2012&market=&productLine=&productRelated=Y