Saliva May Be Able to Diagnose a Heart Attack
No more clutching your chest, or losing all feeling in your extremities to decide if you may be having a heart attack. A recent study suggests that your saliva may be able to diagnose a heart attack. A diagnosis of a heart attack may now be possible using only a few drops of saliva and a new nano-bio-chip, a multi-institutional team led by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin reported at a recent meeting of the American Association for Dental Research.
The credit card sized chip could be used in an ambulance, at a dentist, a drugstore, or maybe at some point just be available to us in our homes. The device is the size of a credit card and can produce results in as little as 15 minutes.
“Many heart attack victims, especially women, experience nonspecific symptoms and secure medical help too late after permanent damage to the cardiac tissue has occurred,” says John T. McDevitt, principal investigator and designer of the nano-bio-chip. “Our tests promise to dramatically improve the accuracy and speed of cardiac diagnosis.”
Researchers from the University of Kentucky College of Dentistry tested saliva magnifiers from 56 people who had a heart attack and 59 healthy subjects for 32 proteins associated with atherosclerosis, thrombosis and acute coronary syndrome. They found these proteins were in higher concentrations in saliva of heart attack victims, and that specific salivary proteins were as accurate in the diagnosis of heart attack as those found in blood serum using current testing methods.
“These are truly exciting findings, since use of these tests could lead to more rapid diagnosis and faster entry of patients into treatment scenarios that can save lives,” said Dr. Craig S. Miller, of the Kentucky team.
Quite a find indeed. Don’t worry Big Brother watchers. This isn’t a chip that gets injected into your body. It is just used on your saliva to detect early signs of a heart attack and cardiac disease.
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Filed under: Science by JMH
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