New blood test detects sensitivity to aspirin

Scientists have developed a new blood test that deciphers gene activity and predicts an individual's response to aspirin, says a study.

The new gene expression profile not only measures the effectiveness of aspirin, but also serves as a strong predictor of patients who are at risk for heart attack, according to a study posted Wednesday in the online edition of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, reports Science Daily.

"We recognised the concept of aspirin resistance among a population of patients who have cardiac events or stroke," said senior author Geoffrey S. Ginsburg, director of genomic medicine at Duke University's Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy.

"We give the same dose to all patients, but maybe some patients need a larger dose of aspirin, or maybe they need to try a different therapy entirely. We need better tools to monitor patients and adjust their care accordingly, and the findings from our study move us in that direction," said Ginsburg, who is also the executive director of Duke's Centre for Personalised Medicine.