HKUST Develops One-Minute Test on Heart Attack

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has developed a quick and simple test for heart attack that takes only one minute. This is expected to save thousands of lives a year in Hong Kong because it gives almost immediate indication to the doctor on whether the patient has had a heart attack, and helps the doctor decide what course of treatment to take.

With a HK$4.3 million subsidy from the Government's Department of Industry, a research group under Professor Reinhard Renneberg, Professor of Chemistry at HKUST developed an infarction test that takes only one minute. This was achieved with assistance from EY Laboratories, Inc as well as Professor John Sanderson of The Chinese University of Hong Kong who helped in the tests on several dozen patients at the Prince of Wales Hospital.

"If a person has a heart attack today and is lucky enough to receive immediate help and diagnosis, he can survive. If he has chest pains and calls for help, an ambulance will take him to the hospital where in the Emergency Unit he will have a small amount of blood drawn and tested. It will take as long as two hours before the hospital's laboratory can confirm whether, indeed, he has suffered from an infarction! To be on the safe side, during this long, long 120 minutes of waiting, the emergency doctor will begin expensive treatment (to avoid further blood clotting). In Germany, only half of all patients suffering from chest pain actually have had a heart attack," said Prof Renneberg.

"We use modern biotechnology to produce special proteins (antibodies) that can recognize a 'heart infarction marker' that shows up in the blood immediately after there has been an infarction," said Prof Renneberg. "The first tests on our small and inexpensive instrument were very encouraging: we took a drop of blood and one minute later we could say: 'There is no infarction; there is a small infarction; or, there is a huge infarction.' Doctors can act immediately," he said.

Prof Renneberg believes that in the next year alone thousands of lives can be saved in Hong Kong. The test can even be used in an ambulance on the way to the hospital so treatment can begin the moment the patient arrives.

"We can also save considerable amounts of money," Prof Renneberg said. "Here is how: In Hong Kong, 36,000 people are admitted to hospital for heart problems every year. The average length of stay in hospital in Hong Kong is 8.6 days. An average per day cost for a hospital stay is $572. This means a total of HK$177 million in costs for hospitalization for patients with chest pain. We estimate that at minimum 20 percent of the patients admitted do not actually have an infarction and could be safely sent home. HK$35 million could thus be saved each year in Hong Kong if a reliable rapid test is made available. For the Chinese mainland this would mean 8 billion Renminbi savings per year!"

"One small note on our progress so far: blood from fifty patients has been checked with our test in a local hospital. We predicted the correct outcome in all fifty cases! Our accuracy is impeccable but we will need more time to work on developing the test and more hospitals to help in testing the instrument. We also need support from the Health Council and the Hospital Authority to make this test a life- and money-saver," Prof Renneberg said.

Sources:

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST)
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