Originally published July 7 2005
Blood test for stroke risk approved by FDA
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
According to Forbes.com, the Food and Drug Administration approved the PLAC test on June 17, which predicts an individual's risk for stroke by measuring the level of an enzyme in the blood called lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2), a risk factor for stroke.
The first blood test to predict a person's risk of stroke was approved last Friday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The PLAC test, made by privately held diagnostics firm diaDexus of South San Francisco, measures the level of an enzyme in the blood called lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2).
The PLAC test was already approved to predict an individual's risk of coronary heart disease.
Traditional risk factors for stroke include high blood pressure, diabetes and smoking.
High levels of the enzyme predict a twofold risk of suffering an ischemic stroke over six to eight years, compared to individuals with low levels of the enzyme, according to results from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study.
The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health and GlaxoSmithKline (nyse: GSK - news - people), looked at a patient sample drawn from nearly 13,000 patients over nearly six years.
"The PLAC test will help physicians more accurately predict who is at risk for future stroke, so that the individual and his or her physician can take proactive and preventative measures, such as lifestyle modification or therapeutic intervention, including statins and daily aspirin," says Dr. Christie Ballantyne, the principal investigator in the PLAC trial, who is also director of the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at Baylor College of Medicine and the Methodist DeBakey Heart Center in Houston.
The PLAC test is available through labs across the U.S., including Quest Diagnostics (nyse: DGX - news - people), Mayo Medical Laboratories and Berkeley HeartLab.
DiaDexus was formed in 1997 as a joint venture between SmithKline Beecham--now GlaxoSmithKline--and drug discovery firm Incyte Pharmaceuticals (nasdaq: INCY - news - people).
GlaxoSmithKline is developing a treatment that inhibits the same enzyme measured in the PLAC test.
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