Subclinical Myocardial Impairment Occurred in Septal and Anterior LV Wall Segments After Anthracycline-Embedded Chemotherapy and did not Worsen During Adjuvant Trastuzumab Treatment in Breast Cancer Patients

• Published in: Cardiovascular toxicology Vol. 16; no. 2; pp. 193 - 206
• Main Authors: Lange, Stefan Andreas, Jung, Jens, Jaeck, Almut, Hitschold, Thomas, Ebner, Bernd
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-04-2016; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adjuvant treatment; Adult; Aged; Anthracyclines; Anthracyclines - administration & dosage; Antineoplastic Agents - administration & dosage; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Breast cancer; Breast Neoplasms - diagnosis; Breast Neoplasms - drug therapy; Cancer; Cancer patients; Cancer therapies; Cardiology; Chemotherapy; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant - methods; Cohort Studies; Drug therapy; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Health aspects; Heart; Heart Septum - drug effects; Heart Septum - physiology; Heart Ventricles - drug effects; Humans; Medical research; Medicine, Experimental; Middle Aged; Patients; Pharmacology/Toxicology; Prospective Studies; Trastuzumab - administration & dosage; Treatment Outcome; Ventricular Function, Left - drug effects; Ventricular Function, Left - physiology; Women; Worms; Germany; 2D echocardiography; Anthracyclines; Breast cancer; Cardiomyopathy
• ISSN: 1530-7905; 1559-0259
• DOI: 10.1007/s12012-015-9328-9

In a previous study of breast cancer patients, we found changes in cardiac function and size during the early stages of adjuvant trastuzumab (Herceptin
®
) therapy. Here we present a subgroup analysis of this patient cohort. This subgroup received a anthracycline-embedded chemotherapy followed by at least 3 months up to 6 months of adjuvant Herceptin
®
therapy. Twenty-seven female breast cancer patients with Her-2/-neu overexpression were studied using conventional echocardiography and 2D speckle tracking. These methods were done before anthracycline-embedded chemotherapy, before adjuvant trastuzumab therapy, and both 3 and 6 months after the start of the therapy (T3, T6). The LV–EF (Simpson biplane) decreased significantly from before the chemotherapy to after the chemotherapy and further decreased after 3 months of trastuzumab therapy (66.2 ± 1.5 vs. 58.7 ± 1.2 vs. 55.6 ± 1.3 vs. 55.9 ± 1.5 %;
p
 < 0.05). The stroke volume index remained constant after chemotherapy (22.0 ± 0.8 vs. 22.6 ± 1.3 ml/m
2
;
p
 = 0.9), but increased significantly during trastuzumab therapy (26.7 ± 1.1 and 27.3 ± 1.0 ml/m
2
;
p
 < 0.01). Global longitudinal strain exclusively decreased during chemotherapy (−21.0 ± 0.5 vs. −18.9 ± 0.5 %,
p
 < 0.001). Regional longitudinal strain decreased significantly after chemotherapy in septal, anteroseptal, anterolateral, and apex segments. Mitral valve regurgitation increased during the whole treatment, but especially during trastuzumab. Right ventricular function decreased exclusively during chemotherapy. Anthracycline-embedded chemotherapy in patients with breast cancer led to a decrease in LV function, especially of the septal and anterior segments, and did not worsen during adjuvant trastuzumab treatment.