Heart attacks, 2/3 vessel wall plaque rupture, 1/3 stenosis

Inflamed plaque rupturing and causing activation of the clotting cascade and developing a clot may be responsible for as much as 2/3 of cardiac ischaemic events where as 1/3 is more likely to be caused by vessel stenosis (narrowing). In the case with a blood clot the narrowing is acute and can become completely shut off and therefor treatment if the first few hours is absolutely critical to saving heart muscle.

>50% of patients being tested in A&E have normal cholesterol values, which also shows us that lipid screens alone are very poor predictors of outcome. Diagnostic i-plaq testing in patients with cardiac risk factors can offer some pertinent information regarding rupture prone plaque and the degree of CHD inflammation. This test is a great tool for the preventative setting and can be used together with lifestyle modification strategies or while evaluating specific cholesterol reducing medication and how effective they are on an individual patients.

This may have very big implications on healthcare spending i.e. insurers, national healthcare institutions etc. as they can take advantage to treatment through the prevention space so patients can be treated early on and monitored so to try prevent a catastrofic cardiac myocardial infarction and all the disability that comes with this pathology and all the costs involved. So it may be more cost effective to manage people within this early phase rather than wait for the main event. I-plaq identifies inflamed rupture prone plaque and allows clinicians to manage your risk on an individual basis using both non-pharma (lifestyle modification) and pharma (cholesterol lowering agents) patient plans with the aim of guiding individuals using this diagnostic test over time in order to achieve the best possible outcome.

These people with cardiac events need urgent treatment as soon as possible and every hour can count!