New Blood Test Can Predict Survival Rates in Heart Failure Patients

A blood test developed helps predict survival rates after surgery for people with advanced heart failure and if organ function can be improved after surgery.

A blood test called MyLeukoMap has been developed to predict survival rates for people with advanced heart failure who have had surgery to implant mechanical circulatory support devices, reveals a new study.

The experimental blood test //was developed at UCLA using gene activity data from immune cells and was 93 percent accurate in predicting survival rates for people.

Recommendations Aim to Improve Care for Advanced Heart Failure Patients With LVADs
The new guideline document covers the role of echocardiography throughout the five distinct phases of patient care related to LVADs.

‘Genomic blood test can predict if heart failure patients' organ function could be recovered and be improved after surgery.’

Mechanical circulatory support devices, such as ventricular assist devices and temporary total artificial hearts, can be surgically implanted in people with advanced heart failure to help the heart's pumping function.

But people with advanced heart failure often also suffer from multi-organ dysfunction syndrome, which can lead to death after a device is implanted and is associated with atypical white blood cell activity.

When patients and doctors are considering a mechanical assist device, current clinical methods used to predict treatment results have limitations: They do not perform well in very sick patients and they do not use molecular information. That lack of precision in predicting treatment outcomes can complicate the shared decision-making process between patients and their doctors.

In Advanced Heart Failure Renal Denervation Gives Better Outcomes Than Drugs
According to research, renal denervation leads to better outcomes than standard drug treatment in patients with advanced heart failure. The research was presented at ESC Congress 2012.

Dr. Mario Deng, the study's principal investigator, was also a co-developer of an FDA-approved molecular blood test called AlloMap, which is used to diagnose organ rejection in heart transplant recipients.

The technology used in the new study, called MyLeukoMap, builds on the methods used in developing AlloMap.

Death Rates Among Advanced Heart Failure Patients Decline Due to Increased Availability of New Therapies
Increased availability and use of new therapies has led to decreased mortality caused by sudden cardiac arrest over the last two decades.

The study involved 29 people with advanced heart failure who underwent mechanical circulatory support surgery at UCLA from 2012 to 2014. Researchers collected blood samples one day before surgery and took clinical data both before surgery and eight days afterward.

The patients were classified into two groups depending on their level of organ function. Seventeen patients showed improvement and 12 did not. One year later, 88 percent of the people in the "improved" group were still alive, compared with 27 percent in the other group.

Advanced Heart Failure Patients Benefit From Long-lasting Gene Therapy
The long-term benefits of a single dose of their gene therapy AAV1/SERCA2a in advanced heart failure patients was reported by researchers.

The researchers identified a set of 28 genes from the pre-surgery blood samples that predicted how well the patients' organ function would recover shortly after surgery and of those 28 genes, 12 helped predict whether organ function would improve after surgery and in forecasting whether the patients would live at least a year after the surgery.

The researchers hope to study whether the test can also be used to accurately predict how people with advanced heart failure and declining organ function will fare after undergoing other types of heart surgery and catheter-based interventions.

The test also could help patients and doctors make more informed decisions about treatment options if it predicts a poor outcome, patients could choose to postpone surgery until their condition improves or could opt for another course of treatment.

Ultimately, it could improve survival rates, and the quality and cost-effectiveness of care.

In the next phase of the study, researchers will expand the research to analyze results for 1,000 patients from 10 sites in the U.S. and around the world.

Source-Eurekalert