Science and Technology Go Hand in Hand to Maintain a Healthy Heart

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the US and is a major cause of disability.  In 2009, an estimated 785,000 Americans had a new coronary attack, and about 470,000 of these will have a recurrent attack.  About every 25 seconds, an American will have a coronary event, and about one every minute will die from one.

When it comes to cardiac events and survival, the key factors for a successful recovery are time to diagnosis, accuracy of diagnosis, and appropriate clinical management.  For patients suffering from a heart attack, every minute counts, yet the average time from start of chest pain to receiving ER medical attention is 3.2 hours.  More shocking still, the average turn-around time of lab-based test results is 2.8 hours, even with the widespread of developing Chest pain centers across the USA.

“As a physician with primary training in cardiology, I am aware that basic medical research is critical to improving cardiac care.  Yet new technology is increasingly offering the promise of better and more timely diagnoses,” says Dr. Yahia Gawad, CEO and director of Ontario-based CardioGenics Holdings Inc., which develops tests for the In Vitro Diagnostics (IVD) test market, says.  Dr. Gawad believes that with the minimum time to detect a heart attack using today’s lab-based immunodiagnostics is whopping 4.5 hours from symptom outset, faster and more efficient testing at the patient bedside is needed. (Read More)

Source: Rush PR News