Abstract
BACKGROUND: Anthracyclines are agents with a well known documented anti-tumoral activity. Cardiac side effects are the principal toxicity. Here we evaluate and monitor the onset of late anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity with real-time CW-Doppler ultrasound cardiac output monitoring (USCOM®) and echocardiography in combination with serum biomarkers. METHODS: Fifty-two patients without cardiac disease who had received an anthracycline-based regimen for various cancer types were included in this study. Patients' hemodynamic parameters as stroke volume (SV USCOM (mL)) and ejection fraction (EF ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY (%)) were measured with USCOM and echocardiography and correlated to serum biomarkers (NT-pro-BNP and cTnT). RESULTS: Eighteen patients (34.6%) developed cardiac disease (NYHA I-III). An increasing cumulative anthracycline dose was associated with a decrease of the EF determined by echocardiography as well the SV by USCOM and with a higher NYHA class. Those patients who experienced cardiac disease showed a reduction of the EF and SV and increased serum biomarkers. CONCLUSIONS: Real-time CW-Doppler USCOM, is a fast and reliable method to monitor late hemodynamic changes as a symptom of anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity comparable to the findings by echocardiography and serum biomarkers.