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Keeping us updated with brilliant new medical developments, this one will prove a massive help to patients and the NHS in general.
It is a simple blood test which will rule out heart attacks in those people admitted to Accident and Emergency units with severe chest pain (Currently 1,000,000 a year...which has tripled over the past 10 years)
The test assesses the level of troponin protein in the blood. If this is low, there is no heart attack present.
In real terms this means over 400,000 people would not require hospitalisation and could be discharged safely from our A/E depts
There would be no need for further tests such as repeated cardiac enzyme blood levels, cardiac monitoring, scans and stress testing.
The savings to the NHS would be massive. More importantly, the wellbeing of patients would be vastly improved
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Surely a no brainer.
To be able to save so many resources just by a simple test means so much more can be done with our struggling nhs budget.
What a brilliant news item.
To be able to save so many resources just by a simple test means so much more can be done with our struggling nhs budget.
What a brilliant news item.
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Another amazing development!
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Obviously the A/E departments would make exactly the same preparations for someone being admitted with chest pain. The monitors, oxygen, defibrillators etc etc etc. Difference being they would now take cardiac troponin as the main blood test. How superb that people could be discharged from A/E if this test is clear.
A well known fact that chest pain is exacerbated when people think they are having a heart attack...
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Fantastic breakthrough. So simple you would have thought the link would have been found before now 
Thanks for posting @Cleoriff
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@Anonymous wrote:Wow, that seems like a major breakthrough. Do you know if the nhs will adopt this procedure at all?
I think they will be queuing up to adopt it @Anonymous. The money it saves will be the deciding factor.
I also would go one step further and look at training paramedics to take the blood specimen when they are called out to attend. Then as soon as the patient arrives at hospital the specimen would be sent immediately to the path lab. Early results denote what treatment will be required, if any...
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thank you @Cleoriff for posting
as someone who has been admitted to A & E with chest pains on a weekend, I was frightened, & this development is wonderful 
btw I was found to have chostochondritis (bad spelling) something to do with rib(s)
