Recently, it has been revealed that a new blood test can show the hidden heart damages in most people. This test was reported in the December 8 Journal of the American Medical Association, helping people to fight risks of heart failure or even death.

Some factors may increase a person’s risk of heart disease. This includes obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes. However, there are many people who suffer from heart attack but do not encounter these problems. There have been great efforts to help identify early warning signs and have focused on two compounds namely C-reactive protein and B-type natriuretic peptide. These two have been tested to be possible tip-off biomarkers. However, only the blood levels in BNP have shown a great ability to predict accurately.

There are two new studies conducted by teams in Texas and Maryland. The studies suggest that the measurements of a blood compound called cardiac troponin T can surpass the performance of the others in indicating heart risks. This was according to Christopher deFilippi, a cardiologist from the University Of Maryland School Of Medicine in Baltimore. He said that Troponin T can be very important in determining which people have underlying heart disease.

A cardiologist at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis, John Cohn, agrees to deFilippi’s assumption. According to Cohn, Most heart attacks occur in the absence of any prior symptoms.” He was not actually related or involved in the new research but Cohn said that the study proves that such diseases can be detected before people become sick.

Furthermore, Cohn says that muscle cells in the heart are likely to release BNP and troponin T when a person is under a stressful condition. The BNP and troponin T signals minor changes that happen before a diagnosis of any problem can be made. Cohn and other doctors are currently using BNP to help them during heart screening procedures. He said that the new findings may just allow doctors to add troponin T in tests.

An analysis done in Maryland by deFilippi and his team made use of blood samples gathered from more than 5,000 all around the country. The age range is at 65 and beyond. These people had no history of heart failure. The researchers used the new blood test in measuring the cardiac troponin T levels. The results show that there were 51 percent of the people who had the highest levels of cardiac troponin were more likely to develop heart failure. 70 percent were more likely to die from cardiovascular causes than those with the lowest level of cardiac troponin T.

The researchers connected the high levels of biomarkers with an abnormal tissue buildup in the largest heart chamber. This is evidence that the heart has a difficulty in pumping blood. According to James de Lemos of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas and also a co-author of the study, “Combining cardiac troponin T measurements with BNP as a cardiac test “definitely would make sense.” The new blood test is up to 10 times more sensitive than the previous one.