Can This Blood Test Tell if You Are Going to Have a Heart Attack? - Episode 181

Do you know the #1 killer of people in the US that kills more people than all cancers combined? Join Dr. Jeffrey Gladden, Steve Reiter, and Rhonda Rhyne in this episode of the Gladden Longevity Podcast. Rhonda Rhyne is a highly accomplished healthcare executive with a Bachelor of Pharmacy and an MBA. Most of her career has been spent in cardiovascular medicine and industry, primarily in medical devices. With experience in General Electric Medical Systems and Cardiodynamics, she became fascinated by the biomarker world, particularly non-invasive cardiac output and single biomarkers such as BNP. Rhonda then became the CEO of Prevencio, leading the company towards developing multi-analyte or multi-protein tests after seeing the potential of these combinations. In this episode, they discuss current diagnostic testing modalities, including exercise/echo/nuclear stress tests, coronary artery calcium scores, cholesterol, single protein blood tests, and genetic scores that have lower accuracy as compared to AI-driven multiprotein blood tests. As the podcast progresses, they look at how Prevencio’s HART blood tests were developed through the use of AI to select and combine multiple proteins and optionally clinical parameters in an algorithm and scoring system that has almost 90% accuracy for detecting whether you have heart disease and are at imminent risk of heart attack (HART CADhs), or one year risk of heart attack, stroke or cardiac death (HART CVE). They discuss the negative effects of alcohol on sleep and exercise routines, as well as how the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase can contribute to aging. Rhonda shares their experience conducting cardiopulmonary exercise tests and strategies for protecting kidneys during contrast dye exposure. We dive into the importance of identifying insulin resistance and understanding genetic expression in predisposition to cardiovascular disease. Finally, we look at a new algorithm combining six parameters for a more accurate diagnosis of coronary artery disease. Do you know you can use the HART tests as a baseline to track and trend your hopeful improvement or deterioration of your heart?  

Listen to this episode to learn about making 100 the new 30 and living young for a lifetime! 

 

 
Dr. Gladden welcomes everyone to the show and shares how he met Rhonda (2:15) 
Rhonda shares how she got into what she presently does and her background. (3:15) 
Through proteins, we see how a genetic expression is. (5:33) 
Dr. Gladden highlights that high-sensitivity troponins and other proteins are being identified as potential markers for heart disease. (7:03) 
Dr. Gladden observes troponin levels rise in people who exercise but not exercising may show normal ranges. (9:55) 
Dr. Gladden shares how adiponectin protects arteries from oxidative stress. (12:22) 
Rhonda reveals that they fed machine learning all the proteins they could get. (14:30) 
Heart health comes down to a lot of things, not just one. (16:25) 
Rhonda says they are in the process of collecting data and doing case studies. (18:52) 
Gene expression can be modulated to achieve balance in the body's complex ecosystem using custom peptides. (21:42) 
Dr. Gladden says, in his practice, one of the issues he faced was taking care of people's kidneys. (23:28) 
Rhonda gives information about a test that is not commercialized yet but is just in the process. (26:56) 
Steve asks about the long-term effects of what Dr. Gladden mentioned. (27:40) 
Rhonda says the PAD will soon be available. (29:40) 
Rhonda discloses that, in August, she will have been with the company for ten years. (31:11) 
Dr. Gladden insinuates that there is a lot more to insulin levels than people realize. (33:23) 
There are no side effects in getting a simple blood test. (35:26) 
Rhonda talks about the accuracy of their tests compared to traditional