Life (Aug 2022)

Valvular Heart Disease following Anthracycline Therapy—Is It Time to Look beyond Ejection Fraction?

  • David Zahler,
  • Joshua H. Arnold,
  • Tali Bar-On,
  • Ari Raphael,
  • Shafik Khoury,
  • Zach Rozenbaum,
  • Shmuel Banai,
  • Yaron Arbel,
  • Yan Topilsky,
  • Michal Laufer-Perl

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/life12081275
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 8
p. 1275

Abstract

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The association between anthracycline (ANT) and left ventricle (LV) dysfunction is well known; however, data regarding its direct effect on cardiac valve function is limited. We aimed to evaluate how ANT therapy affected valvular function in patients diagnosed with breast cancer. Data were prospectively collected as part of the Israel Cardio-Oncology Registry (ICOR). Patients underwent echocardiography exams at baseline (T1), during ANT therapy (T2), and after completion within 3 months (T3) and 6 months (T4). A total of 141 female patients were included, with a mean age of 51 ± 12 years. From T1 to T4, we observed a significant deterioration in LV ejection fraction (60.2 ± 1.5 to 59.2 ± 2.7%, p = 0.0004) and LV global longitudinal strain (−21.6 (−20.0–−23.0) to −20.0 (−19.1–−21.1)%, p p p p = 0.003), and a trend for tricuspid regurgitation development (4% to 8%, p = 0.19). ANT therapy is associated with the development of a new valvular disease, mainly MR, which may imply the need for a valvular focus in the monitoring of cancer patients.

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