For several years, ConocoPhillips Norway has supported the NEEDED project, providing lifesaving heart research. Now, the company has chosen to expand the contract, adding financial support for three more years.
The project is headed by Stavanger University Hospital and Chief Doctor Stein Ørn. With financial support from ConocoPhillips amongst others, NEEDED opened a heart research center in Sandnes in 2021, now on its way to enter new, exciting phases.
Several people from the company have contributed to and attended the study, and many more have become familiar with the project during the North Sea Race.
“I am so pleased that so many have engaged themselves in this project and that ConocoPhillips has chosen to extend its support to this research. In the future, this has the potential to announce new insights about cardiac health”, Medical Director Tatjana Bergsland said.
What is NEEDED
Worldwide, heart attack is one of the most frequent causes of deaths, usually because of narrow coronary arteries. Sudden deaths among highly trained athletes receive much media attention, and it is often caused by an undiscovered, underlying heart disease.
As operator of the Greater Ekofisk Area, ConocoPhillips sometimes experience employees with acute heart disease while at work offshore. The aim of the NEEDED study is to discover heart disease earlier, so that severe heart illnesses and death can be avoided offshore and in the public in general.
In the first phase of the project, the researchers investigated whether the heart protein troponin, which is secreted into the blood in acute heart disease, could tell something about heart disease in people without a diagnosed heart disease and without symptoms. Blood tests were taken after strenuous physical activity to see if the troponin levels increased to abnormally high amounts, and if this could be a sign of underlying heart illness. The study showed coherence between heart disease and persistent high levels of troponin in the blood after strenuous activity.
Phase two was therefore to find out how much activity and level of troponins was needed to indicate heart disease, and if there was a difference between troponin variants. The aim was to see if it is possible to discover underlying heart disease without any symptoms, monitor the illness and provide advice about safe and secure exercise. Also, the researchers studied factors such as heart rate, genetics and stress hormones.
The researchers found that Troponin also can increase in people without heart illness. With these people, the increase signals the heart’s normal reaction to stress. If Troponin is to be used to define heart illness, methods to separate between normal and abnormal increase in Troponin needs to be identified.
Next step is phase three. The researchers will try to figure out a way to verify that high levels of troponin are unrelated to heart illness. The plan is also to continue studying the results of phase two. They will do tests on athletes and individuals with and without heart disease. In addition, they will do a follow-up study on those who attended the study in 2014.
Current results
The researchers have found coherence between the troponin levels and heart disease, and already in the first phase of the study, the researchers discovered severe heart diseases in 10 people, who had no heart diagnoses before entering the study. None of the 10 attendees had symptoms, but all of them had unusual high levels of troponin and ended up with surgery due to the severeness of their heart diseases.
Do you want to read more about the NEEDED project - follow this external link at Helse Stavanger