Evaluating right ventricular function to reveal cancer therapy cardiotoxicity

Abstract

Advances in cancer treatment resulted in augmented patient survival rate. However, anticancer therapy often causes heart damage in the form of a progressive systolic heart failure. Echocardiographic parameters of left ventricular function were conventionally used to detect early manifestations of cancer therapy cardiotoxicity. Improved diagnosing of the right ventricle condition revealed that it is negatively affected by chemotherapy as frequently as the left ventricle, and sometimes even earlier than the latter. Hence, currently, the right ventricle function and mechanics assessment techniques are actively developed for the chemotherapy cardiotoxicity diagnostic, primarily employing 3D echocardiography and speckle tracking analysis. The presented review provides relevant information on the matter and highlights insufficiently developed issues and fields of further research.

Keywords

• echocardiography
• cancer therapy cardiotoxicity
• right ventricular