A tiny chip with a special surface can precisely identify the blood biomarkers of a heart attack in a matter of minutes, even if they are at very low concentrations. The device's creators envision it being used as a diagnostic tool at home.

Time is of the essence when dealing with a heart attack. Patient outcomes are improved by early diagnosis because less damage is done and blood flow is restored to the heart more quickly. However, heart attacks are cunning creatures, with symptoms that vary from person to person.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) have led the design of a tiny chip that diagnoses heart attack by detecting important biomarkers in minutes rather than hours, even if they are present at very low concentrations, reports Paul McClure in New Atlas.

The proof-of-concept work, which can be modified to detect infectious diseases and cancer biomarkers, is newly published in Advanced Science.

"Heart attacks require immediate medical intervention in order to improve patient outcomes, but while early diagnosis is critical, it can also be very challenging—and near impossible outside of a clinical setting," said lead author Peng Zheng, an assistant research scientist at Johns Hopkins University. "We were able to invent a new technology that can quickly and accurately establish if someone is having a heart attack."

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Zheng and senior author Ishan Barman use biophotonics to create diagnostic tools that use laser light to find biomarkers, which are the body's reactions to various conditions, including disease. Here, they employed technology to detect the first indications of a heart attack in the blood. Heart attacks continue to be one of the most difficult conditions to diagnose; symptoms vary greatly and biological signs can be subtle and easy to miss in the early stages of a heart attack. In the United States, more than 8000,000 people have heart attacks every year.

The stand-alone blood test the team created provides results in five to seven minutes. It's also more accurate and more affordable than current methods, the researchers say.

Though created for speedy diagnostic work in a clinical setting, the test could be adapted as a hand-held tool that first responders could use in the field, or that people might even be able to use themselves at home.

"We're talking about speed, we're talking about accuracy, and we're talking of the ability to perform measurements outside of a hospital," said Barman, a bioengineer in JHU's Department of Mechanical Engineering. "In the future we hope this could be made into a hand-held instrument like a Star Trek tricorder, where you have a drop of blood and then, voilà, in a few seconds you have detection."