US researchers have found oddly-shaped blood cells in heart
attack patients, indicating that a blood test could help predict
whether a patient is at risk of an imminent cardiac emergency.
The study by the Scripps Translational Science Institute (STSI)
found that the endothelial blood cells from heart attack
patients are abnormally large and misshapen, sometimes appearing
with multiple nuclei. That could make them reliable indicators
of an impending heart attack, according to the study published
this week in Science Translational Medicine. "The ability to
diagnose an imminent heart attack has long been considered the
holy grail of cardiovascular medicine," said Eric Topol, the
study's principal investigator and director of STSI. Doctors
have long been able to identify risk factors -- such as smoking,
obesity and high cholesterol -- that can put patients at greater
danger of heart disease, but cannot predict imminent attacks.
The study involved 50 patients who showed up at emergency rooms
with heart attacks at