New scientific breakthrough to help identify potential cardiac arrest victims

A new study on cardiac arrest, has developed an electronic test to see if people carry a gene that increases the risk of the disease.

The new cardiac arrest test was developed by Australia’s Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute and claims to be able to find heart-damaging variants in thousands of genetic variations, that will help identify the risk of the disease early in people with a family history of the condition.

The researchers claim the method is a breakthrough for its accuracy and precision and is not only suitable for detecting heart disease, but has future potential for detecting neurological disorders, muscle and kidney disease.

Jamie Vandenberg, one of the lead researchers, stated:

“It is usually young people with seemingly healthy hearts who die from this genetic disorder, and although the numbers are small, the impact of these events is long-term. ”

“When a person dies in their young, prime years, the effect is not just a personal death, the impact on their family and friends is permanent.”

Chai-Ann Ng, a co-investigator stated: “If the variants are found and these risks are identified, these people can make lifestyle changes and take a beta blocker, or even use a defibrillator, and refer family members to be tested.”

Van den Berg said they hope that “within five years, as soon as people have been genetically tested, or sequenced, they will immediately know if they have a dangerous version of the gene.”

The study entitled “A massively parallel assay accurately discriminates between functionally normal and abnormal variants in a hotspot domain of KCNH2”, was published June 9 in The American Journal of Human Genetics.

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