Background and Objectives: Anthracyclines are effective drugs widely used in pediatric cancer treatment. Previous studies demonstrated that exposure to low-dose anthracyclines (< 300 mg/m2) could induce a progressive decrease in cardiac function during long-term follow-up. The goal of this study was to assess left ventricular function using vector velocity imaging (VVI) in children with low-dose anthracycline therapy
Subjects and Methods: We examined 14 asymptomatic patients who all had been treated with anthracyclines and showed normal fractional shortening (FS) and ejection fraction (EF). In all patients, standard two-dimensional (2D), pulsed and tissue Doppler echocardiographic measurements were taken from apical 4 chamber view. The peak myocardial velocities, peak strain rate (SR), peak strain and displacement were obtained from the VVI. Data were compared with 14 age-matched normal controls.
Results: From the regional wall motion analysis using VVI in left ventricle, peak myocardial velocities and displacement of the lateral wall were increased significantly than one of the septum and there was no significant difference between patients and controls. Although systolic strain, systolic and diastolic SR showed no significant difference between septum and lateral wall in controls, those of septum were decreased significantly than those of the lateral wall in patients (p <0.05). In comparison with controls, these changes in septal strain and SR of patients were significant (p <0.05).
Conclusion: Anthracycline therapy, even low-dose, can induce the changes in regional wall function before global dysfunction. Also, strain and SR obtained from VVI may be useful for early detection of these changes.
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