Recognizing that heart disease is the number one cause of death in the United States,
Quest Diagnostics acquired Cleveland HeartLab to establish a national Cardiometabolic Center of Excellence focused on heart disease diagnostics.The aim of the center in Cleveland, Ohio is to build upon the expertise of both companies to create new services to help improve screening, diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular and metabolic disorders. Cleveland HeartLab (CHL) has pioneered the development of personalized evaluation of heart disease risk based on inflammation and other novel markers. Quest Diagnostics has created the proprietary Cardio IQ
® Ion Mobility test for lipid particle analysis and is a leader in genetic and metabolic testing.Since the two companies joined forces in December 2017, they have moved quickly to broaden customer access to their novel advanced diagnostic services. During the spring of 2018, Quest made eight new tests from CHL available on its Cardio IQ menu. Similarly, CHL expanded its offering, adding six new tests from Quest. As a result, physicians who typically order services from Quest or CHL now have ready access to each organization’s offerings. With broader access to innovation, physicians may be empowered with better insights to deliver quality care for patients.With this milestone, Quest patients will gain access to both companies’ shared strengths. These test services are designed to go beyond conventional laboratory diagnostics to assess cardiovascular disease, such as cholesterol panels, which may not identify risk in all patients. The new offerings analyze inflammation, genetic and other markers to help physicians identify at-risk patients so they can take measures to reduce the prospect of heart disease before it occurs. They may also help guide treatment protocols to improve outcomes.ss to a broader range of range of inflammatory, metabolic, and heart failure markers, among others. CHL patients will now have access to the Cardio IQ Ion Mobility test and a series of genetic markers associated with risk for heart disease. A snapshot of the tests added to the Cardio IQ menu is below.
Inflammation
Research has found that levels of inflammation can indicate heightened risk of certain diseases, including heart disease.
1 The Quest Diagnostics Cardio IQ menu now includes access to CHL’s new inflammatory marker test services. These services may help clinicians identify risk of CVD across the continuum of disease, from risk identification of early-stage cardiovascular disease to the presence of disease to late-stage disease activity. These tests include F2-Isoprostanes, oxidized low density lipoprotein (OxLDL) and asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA).
Metabolic Marker
Eating right and exercising are keys to heart health. Yet, an individual’s metabolic state can also influence disease risk. Among the most significant new offerings to the Quest Diagnostics CardioIQ test menu is the Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) test, which evolved from research by the Cleveland Clinic. This test service highlights what Quest’s Cardiometabolic Center of Excellence is all about: innovation that can help improve outcomes. Data show high levels of TMAO can contribute to a heightened risk for clot-related events, such as heart attack and stroke, even after researchers take into account the presence of conventional risk factors and markers of inflammation that might skew the results. The TMAO test can help identify hidden risk for a heart attack or stroke in seemingly healthy patients before symptoms strike. While Cleveland HeartLab has offered TMAO testing for several years, Quest’s physicians and patients will now be able to access this innovation for the first time.
Other risk markers
Quest also launched tests that offer customers a choice in personalizing care for their patients. These include the OmegaCheck™ test, Galectin-3, which can help a physician identify patients at risk for heart failure, and the small dense low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (sdLDL) and high density lipoprotein 2b (HDL2b) tests, which measure smaller and heavier than typical LDL cholesterol, which can increase a patient’s risk of developing atherosclerosis and those with cardiovascular disease or those with low total HDL levels or high triglyceride levels, respectively.These initial offerings are only the beginning. By joining together, Quest and Cleveland HeartLab will continue to develop and commercialize new cardiometabolic diagnostic innovations that can help patients identify their personal risk and achieve the best possible health outcomes.
1 Ridker PM, Everett BM, Thuren T, et al. Anti-inflammatory therapy with canakinumab for atherosclerotic disease. N Engl J Med 2017;377:1119-1131.
