Radionuclide methods in the detection and forecast of anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity in breast cancer patients

Purpose: To compare the possibility of using multiple-gated acquisition scan (MUGA) and 99mTc-MIBI GATE SPECT for evaluation and forecast of anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity in breast cancer patients. Material and methods. The study included 67 women (mean age - 44 ± 4.9 years) with breast cancer without significant pathology of the cardiovascular system. For the treatment of these patients used doxorubicin in dose of 50 mg/m2 per course in combination with various drugs. All patients were studied by MUGA (n=33) or GATE SPECT (n=34) before starting chemotherapy, at 1 hour after the first administration of doxorubicin and after the 4th course. Results. After administration of doxorubicin at a dose of 50 mg/m2 was found that 11 patients according MUGA and 14 patients according GATE SPECT had a significant (10 % or more) reduction in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). Significant inhibition of systolic function in this patient group remained after the 4th course treatment. In the individual analysis of the MUGA and GATE SPECT results, registered after the administration of doxorubicin at a dose of 200 mg/m2, was revealed that the criterion of LVEF reduction (10 % or more) in response to the first dose of doxorubicin can predict the development of chronic cardiotoxicity. Conclusion. The MUGA and GATE SPECT can be applied with equal effectiveness for evaluation of acute and chronic anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity in breast cancer patients. The decrease in LVEF (10 % or more) in response to the first dose of doxorubicin can predict the development of chronic cardiotoxicity.