The LoDED Trial
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Randomised controlled trial of the LoDED (Limit of Detection of Troponin\nand ECG Discharge) strategy versus usual care in adult chest pain\npatients attending the Emergency Department\n
IRAS ID
235662
Contact name
Edward Carlton
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
North Bristol NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
When someone arrives in Accident and Emergency (A&E) with chest pain, it is often hard for doctors to tell if the pain is due to a heart attack. Most patients have to wait in hospital, having two blood tests taken a few hours apart, before a heart attack can be ruled out. Only 1 in 10 of these patients have actually had a heart attack - most have conditions like heartburn that aren’t serious. Ruling-out heart attacks faster would reassure patients earlier and reduce time spent in hospital. Around 2 million people a year in Britain come to A&E with chest pain. Finding a way for them to be discharged earlier would mean hospitals would be under less pressure.\n\nA blood test, called high-sensitivity troponin, may be used to rule-out heart attacks using just one blood sample shortly after a patient arrives in A&E. This test measures low levels of heart muscle damage in the blood. We aim to find out whether this single test works in everyday practice.\n\nWe will ask 600 patients with chest pain, arriving at one of seven A&Es, to take part in the study. We will allocate them by chance to one of two groups. One group will be discharged after one blood test, if no heart damage is found. The other group will have two blood tests as usual. We will compare groups to see how many patients can be discharged within 4 hours. We will see if the new method saves hospital resources and if patients are reassured when discharged earlier.\n\nPatient volunteers have helped us design this research and will ensure the study is acceptable to patients.\n\nStudy results will be available to doctors and patients to allow improvements in care.
REC name
South West - Frenchay Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/SW/0038
Date of REC Opinion
11 Apr 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion