Software helps Doctors calculate heart attack risk

An international consortium of researchers, led by the University of Edinburgh has developed a programme that enables doctors to swiftly assess the severity of a patient’s condition. The new ‘risk calculator’ is already being used in British hospitals. Doctors using the new system take key data from patients at their bedside and input it into the specially devised programme. Doctor’s record key facts such as a patient’s age, medical history, as well as information derived from on-the-spot blood samples and kidney tests.

The new patient’s statistical profile is then input into a computer and matched with data derived from thousands of other coronary cases. Using the outcomes of these previous cases as a guide, the computer will not only give an accurate assessment of the new patient’s conditions but also recommend possible treatment. Significantly, it will be able to predict the likelihood of the patient suffering a heart attack, and even their chances of dying in the next months.

Software helps Doctors calculate heart attack risk