Researchers in Aberdeen have launched a study to see whether a new blood
test can better predict the outcome for patients facing heart surgery.
Cardiac surgery is very commonly performed in the UK and is associated with a
small risk to the patient. Usually the benefits very much outweigh the risks
that surgery can bring.
However, doctors are always investigating ways of minimising risks to
patients, but the methods of predicting actual outcome for individual patients
undergoing heart surgery are not particularly well developed.
Now the British Heart Foundation (BHF) has awarded the University of Aberdeen £127,534
to carry out a study into a blood test which it is hoped will give a better idea
of the prognosis of a patient facing coronary artery bypass surgery.
Dr Brian Cuthbertson, Clinical Senior Lecturer within the University’s Unit
of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, said: “We hope our study will show that this
test is clinically useful and has benefits to our patients.
“If we can predict more accurately the risks of surgery it will help
clinicians and patients make a more informed choice about the risk of surgery.
For example, it could be that a decision is taken to postpone surgery so a
patient’s health can be improved before surgery actually takes place.”
Iain Lowis, Director of the British Heart Foundation in Scotland, said: “We
are delighted that such an important and potentially life-saving research
project is being funded by the BHF at the University of Aberdeen, adding as it
does to almost £1.5 million of heart research that we are already supporting in
the city.”
The test would be in the form of a simple blood sample from a patient which
would monitor a hormone called B-type natriuretic peptide, which is produced in
the heart in response to stress and volume load, and which is a sensitive marker
of heart injury and dysfunction.
Researchers would test for levels of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) as they
believe these could act as a predictor of outcome in cardiac surgery.
Around 1,000 patients are expected to be recruited onto the study which will
run over three years.
Dr Cuthbertson added: “People who are being prepared for cardiac surgery or
presented for cardiac surgery in Aberdeen will be asked whether they would like
to get involved. It is a simple observational study.”
