{"id":642487,"date":"2026-10-27T05:22:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T05:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/642487\/"},"modified":"2026-10-27T05:22:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T05:22:13","slug":"medical-trial-aims-to-beat-widow-maker-heart-attacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/642487\/","title":{"rendered":"Medical trial aims to beat ‘widow maker’ heart attacks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jennifer Tucker was pushing a pram uphill when she became so breathless she had to sit in the gutter.<\/p>\n

A man working in a pizza shop on Sydney’s north shore spotted the 33-year-old slumped on the footpath, her two young children nearby, and took her to a GP clinic across the road.<\/p>\n

Tucker was 33, went to the gym four times a week, didn’t smoke, had low cholesterol and no history of serious health problems.<\/p>\n

But over the following weeks, a series of tests revealed she had a severe blockage in one of her coronary arteries, a condition colloquially known as a “widow maker”.<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

Woman with a hand on her chest suffering from chest pain (File image). (Source: istock.com)<\/p>\n

“I could have had a GP that day say, ‘You’re right, I’ll let you go’ and push me out of the system,” Tucker told AAP.<\/p>\n

“I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you today.”<\/p>\n

Tucker had a stent inserted in 2011 and remains well.<\/p>\n

But she almost brushed off appointments many times, while medical staff played down risks of a serious health problem, due to her age and apparent good health.<\/p>\n

For the past decade, cardiologists have observed a rise in heart attacks among people with no obvious risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and obesity.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(Source: istock.com)<\/p>\n

Researchers from Royal North Shore Hospital and the University of Sydney are developing a world-first screening regime involving blood tests for biomarkers and CT imaging to detect coronary artery disease in its “silent” early stages.<\/p>\n

Focusing solely on known risks like high blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol ignored less understood individual factors, the hospital’s interventional cardiologist Gemma Figtree said.<\/p>\n

“Coronary disease and heart attacks also affect young, fit and healthy people – not uncommonly with the first presentation of this with sudden death,” Professor Figtree said in a statement.<\/p>\n

“Early detection of life-threatening plaque offers a chance to prevent heart attacks and deliver effective prevention to all who develop the disease, irrespective of their population risk factors.”<\/p>\n

\"Coronary<\/p>\n

Coronary disease and heart attacks also affect young, fit and healthy people (File image). (Source: istock.com)<\/p>\n

More than 5000 people have taken part in the developing research, with blood samples helping to identify biomarkers.<\/p>\n

The program is seeking increased funding, with an ultimate goal to expand into rural and remote areas, which have higher rates of heart attacks and limited access to preventative care.<\/p>\n

Mark Tattersall, a GP in Bourke, western NSW, said presentations were often delayed in remote areas, partly because of higher rates of chronic conditions.<\/p>\n

People with comorbidities like diabetes could experience vague heart attack symptoms, including non-specific discomfort, Dr Tattersall said.<\/p>\n

“There’s patients in their early 40s presenting with heart attacks and we’ve had some of them die… which is quite devastating for families,” he told AAP.<\/p>\n

While Tucker faced potential medical biases in her treatment path, she said the barriers for rural patients were more pronounced.<\/p>\n

“If we can get this out to regional [areas], it’s a really equitable solution,” she said.<\/p>\n

The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including Dame Jacinda’s new job, and why an Australian prisoner’s lost a legal case over Vegemite. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jennifer Tucker was pushing a pram uphill when she became so breathless she had to sit in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":642488,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[85,134,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-642487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-australia","tag-health","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}