Cheek swab can now detect serious heart condition early
A simple two-minute cheek swab can now catch arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM)—a serious genetic heart condition—up to five years before it usually shows up.
Researchers at Great Ormond Street Hospital and St George's, University of London found that protein changes in your cheek cells actually reflect what's happening in the heart.
Early warning signs in cheeks
Scientists tracked 51 kids with genetic risk for ACM, aged from just a few months to 18 years, doing regular cheek swabs over seven years.
Ten developed ACM and eight of those 10 showed early warning signs in their cheeks before other tests detected the condition.
Even among 21 kids not known to be at risk, five had abnormal results.
Home kits for families in the works
This test is quick, painless, and could help doctors catch ACM way earlier—making treatment safer and possibly saving lives.
Backed by the British Heart Foundation, researchers are now working on home kits so families can do these checks without a hospital visit.