Doctors find innovative methods to detect heart failure
Thursday 22nd December 2011
Heart failure is one of the biggest killers in the UK with 32 per cent of sufferers dying within a year of being admitted to hospital, according to the National Heart Failure Audit.
Doctors and those that operate in locum cardiology work have longed tried to find a method of treatment to combat this serious condition. Researchers have looked into ways of analysing the affects of the ailment which can lead to even more serious illnesses such as heart disease. The common belief is that the quicker the condition is identified the quicker it can be treated and researchers have been devising new ways of speeding up the process.
In developing countries heart failure is prevalent in two per cent of all adults and can be deadly in some cases. Adults aged 65 or over are more at risk as the figure rises to around 60 per cent and is linked significantly to reduced physical and mental health, resulting in a markedly decreased quality of life. Although some people survive many years, progressive disease is associated with an overall increased mortality and morbidity.
A team of doctors in Germany have found a way of "smelling" heart failure by using an "electronic nose". The "nose" system consists of an array of three thick-film metal oxide based gas sensors with heater elements. Each of the sensors has a slightly different sensitivity to various odorant molecular types. Whilst this could be considered as a very strange and unorthodox method of identifying the condition it has proved to be successful.
German doctors believe when the odorant molecules react with a heated surface they give off a scent that can be related to heart failure. Vasileios Kechagias from the University Hospital Jena, said: "The early detection of chronic heart failure through periodical screening facilitates early treatment application."
Heart failure can be brought about by a person having poor lifestyle choices and doctors have devised new health regimes so that people can avoid the risk of heart failure and any other related ailments. Researchers in Louisiana found that people that did not smoke, got regular exercise and ate lots of vegetables were less likely to develop the condition than those who did not.
Gang Hu, M.D., Ph.D., lead author of the study at the Chronic Disease Epidemiology Laboratory at the Pennington Biomedical Research Centre in Baton Rouge, La. "Any steps you take to stay healthy can reduce your risk of heart failure. Hypothetically, about half of new heart failure cases occurring in this population could have been prevented if everyone engaged in at least three healthy lifestyle behaviours."
The research found that men who smoked were 86 per cent more likely to contract heart failure compared to non-smokers whereaswomen were 109 per cent more likely. Obese males were also 15 per cent more at risk of having heart failure with obese women 21 per cent more at risk. Moderate physical activity reduced the chance by 21 per cent in men and 13 per cent in women compared to a light physical activity level.
Mr Hu added that health workers should advise patients that are most at risk to heart failure to change any part of their lifestyle that may be related to the condition. He said: "Healthcare workers should discuss healthy lifestyle habits with their patients and stress that they can do more."
Heart failure is still a major killer throughout the world but researchers are still providing new methods to combat the disease. Whether it is through innovative "electronic nose" technology to identify the condition or just by advising patients on what lifestyle regime they should undertake there is significant progress in the ways to prevent this disease.
written by Mathew Horton
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