A researcher has developed a new blood test that may be more effective in assessing risk of sudden cardiac death, according to a news release by the Cardiovascular Institute at Rhode Island Hospital, The Miriam Hospital and Newport Hospital.
Samuel Dudley, MD, PhD, chief of cardiology at the CVI, developed the blood test, which more accurately determines which patients would benefit from receiving an implantable cardiac defibrillator.
Currently, patients' risk for cardiac arrest is assessed by measuring the output of blood from the heart in one heartbeat. If the ejection fraction is less than 35 percent, the patient may benefit from an ICD, but approximately 60 percent of patients who receive an ICD may not actually need one, according to the release.
"With this blood test, we can refine the need for such a device and instead implant the cardiac defibrillators only in the most severe cases of sudden cardiac death risk," Dr. Dudley said in the news release.
The blood test is in its pilot phase and is expected to undergo a multi-site trial led by Dr. Dudley and other CVI researchers this fall.
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