Aspirin Response Testing Now Available
Aspirin Response Testing (ART) is now available from SpectraCell Laboratories. The test is indicated to test how patients are responding to low dose therapy with aspirin, a common regimen to prevent cardiovascular disease.
The test is an ELISA that measures thromboxane presence in the urine. It is a marker of the therapeutic target of aspirin therapy, thromboxane A2. One benefit of this approach is that urine testing is not subject to the same problems associated with blood sampling. In addition, the test is highly specific.
ART determines if patients are responding to aspirin therapy by determining the level of thromboxane production. In addition, it can aid clinicians in a determination of the appropriate aspirin dose for each patient. There are a variety of different reasons why patients do not respond to aspirin therapy.
Recent research indicates that patients respond differently to the standard low-dose aspirin regimen. The most conservative estimates indicate that about one quarter of patients do not respond. Moreover, patients who do not respond to this approach to reduce stickiness of platelets are three times more likely to die from heart disease than those who respond.
August 15, 2008 Related topics: Product Launches, Diagnostic