Introduction to Myocardial Infarction
A heart attack occurs when the flow of blood to the heart is blocked, most often by a build-up of fat, cholesterol and other substances, which forms a plaque in the coronary arteries. The interrupted blood flow can damage part of the heart muscle. A heart attack, also called a myocardial infarction (MI), can be fatal. Both environmental and genetic factors contribute to the risk of having a heart attack.
During a heart attack, one of these plaques can rupture and spill cholesterol and other substances into the bloodstream. A blood clot forms at the site of the rupture. If large enough, the clot can completely block the flow of blood through the coronary artery.
Rainbow Myocardial Infarction Risk Assessment Test
The Myocardial Infarction Risk Assessment Test determines the genotypes of two risk markers located at chromosome 9p21. These two single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs, associate with increased risks for development of myocardial infarction (heart attack) and coronary heart disease. The risk associations have been replicated in over 20 populations with over 20,000 myocardial infarction patients and 40,000 controls, including over 5000 Chinese, Japanese, Korean and other East Asian patients.
These population-based genetic risks have been shown to be independent of family history or traditional risk factors, including diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol, and obesity. Although the relative risks associated with these markers are not high, the population attributable risk is substantial due to the high frequency of carriers with the risk-associated variants. Risk assessment outcome may have implications for early prevention of the disease.