Simple test helps predict heart attack risk
Tuesday, March 10, 2009 - 20:42
in Health & Medicine
The use of common and readily available screening tests -like the ankle brachial index (ABI) -along with traditional risk scoring systems -such as the Framingham Risk Score -has the potential to prevent devastating heart attacks in thousands of individuals who are not originally thought to be at high risk (according to Framingham alone), say researchers at the Society of Interventional Radiology's 34th Annual Scientific Meeting. About 25 percent of all heart attacks or sudden cardiac deaths in the United States occur in individuals thought to be at low risk.