New blood test detects deadly inherited heart conditions

A new genetic test to improve diagnosis in people with inherited heart conditions has been developed by researchers. The researchers showed that by looking at a particular group of genes they were able to reliably test for all known inherited heart condition genes with one simple test. Previous genetic tests for inherited heart conditions looked at a smaller number of genes and were only able to identify specific conditions, leading to greater costs, more work, and ultimately longer before a diagnosis could be made. This has been a major barrier to the nationwide rollout of genetic testing in the NHS. The new test , which is available to testing labs in the UK and overseas, is quicker and more reliable than previous tests, reducing costs and allowing patients to be diagnosed quickly and accurately. It is the result of an international collaboration between researchers in Singapore, Imperial College London and at the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre , funded by the British Heart Foundation. This group of diseases affect over half a million people in the UK.