Cardiac systolic function before and after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

In order to examine the effect of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation ( HSCT) on cardiac systolic function, we measured left ventricular ejection f raction (LVEF) by radioventriculography (RVC) before and after the transpla ntation procedure. One hundred and forty-eight patients were examined, 96 u ndergoing allogeneic grafting and 52 autologous, Fifty patients had CML, 48 AML, 21 ALL, 18 multiple myeloma and 11 breast cancer. The second RVG exam ination was performed 22 to 227 days (median 60 days) after HSCT, The mean LVEF value in the whole patient group was 60.2% (range 39-81%) before and 6 1.1% (35-86%) after transplantation. Patients with CML had significantly hi gher LVEF before transplantation than patients with acute leukemia (P = 0.0 07) and multiple myeloma (P = 0.005), No significant changes in mean LVEF b etween the pre- and post-transplant measurements were seen in any of the di agnostic subgroups or in allogeneic or autologous recipients. None of the 1 48 patients in the study has shown any signs of clinical heart failure at 2 , 5 to 10 years follow-up. Patients who had received anthracyclines in the previous treatment had significantly lower LVEF before transplantation but showed no increased risk of decline in cardiac function. In conclusion, the HSCT procedure does not seem to affect myocardial function 1-7 months afte r transplantation.