DIASTOLIC OR SYSTOLIC LEFT AND RIGHT-VENTRICULAR IMPAIRMENT AT MODERATE DOSES OF ANTHRACYCLINE - A 1-YEAR FOLLOW-UP-STUDY OF WOMEN

A prospective study was carried out to assess the early and later alte rations in left and right ventricular diastolic and systolic function after the termination of anthracycline therapy. In 33 women without ca rdiac disease who were treated by anthracycline therapy, cardiac funct ion was evaluated by radionuclide angiography before the treatment (T- 0) and 1 month (T-1) and 12 months (T-12) after the end of the treatme nt. Cardiac function was assessed by radionuclide measurement througho ut treatment. Analysis of ejection fraction (EF), peak ejection rate ( PER), time to PER (TPER), peak filling rate (PFR) and time to PFR (TPF R) was performed before and after treatment. To normalise radionuclide measurements of the ventricular diastolic function, the ratio of the PFR and the EF and the ratio of the PFR and the PER were calculated. N o patient developed symptomatic congestive cardiac failure. One-way an alysis of variance showed a significant decrease in the three paramete rs (EF, PER, PFR) over time only for the left ventricle (LV); no signi ficant alterations appeared for the right ventricle (RV). The EF of th e LV decreased from 59%+/-5% at T-0 to 57%+/-6% at T-1 and 56%+/-5% at T-12. The PER of the LV fell from 3.03+/-0.40 end-diastolic volume pe r second (EDV/s) at T-0 to 2.79+/-0.47 at T-1 and 2.78+/-0.43 at T-12. The PFR of the LV dropped from 2.99+/-0.43 EDV/s at T-0 to 2.62+/-0.4 4 at T-1 and 2.56+/-0.42 at T-12. For the normalised ratios, no differ ences were observed. Significant differences were found for EF, PER an d PFR between T-0 and T-1, and between T-0 and T-12, but no difference was found between T-1 and T-12. This report shows simultaneous impair ment of the systolic and diastolic LV radionuclide parameters at 1 and 12 months after anthracycline therapy without alteration in the RV fu nction.