The risk of heart attack can be detected by new tomography techniques

Early tests have shown that a new heart test based on scans can identify people at high risk of having a heart attack - experts at the University of Edinburgh (UK).

By using radioactive markers combined with high-resolution tomography of the heart and blood vessels, researchers can see an overall and detailed picture of the heart, with The danger zone is clearly shown in the image. In this way, they easily detect dangerous plaque that is active inside the arteries nourishing the heart. This finding is very important because if these plaques unfortunately peel off from the walls of blood vessels, they can form blood clots and block blood vessels, leading to a heart attack.

The tomography image shows the portion of the artery with plaque inside.(Photo: BBC)

The first tests conducted on 40 patients who experienced a heart attack recently showed that the new technique has detected plaque causing heart attack in 37 patients. "I think not all of the plaque detected leads to a heart attack, but the new technique may be useful in identifying people at high risk of needing active treatment" - Dr. Marc Dweck, a cardiologist, said. However, the researchers suggest that they need to do more tests to detect dangerous plaque before (not after) a heart attack.

According to Dr. Dweck, heart attack is the leading cause of death in the world without any warning signs until the disease outbreaks. Therefore, if these plaques can be removed and stabilized, by combining active medication and lifestyle changes, we can prevent and significantly limit the number of deaths from this disease. each year.