Abstract

The work is devoted to the evaluation of late cardiotoxicity as well as current status of circulatory system in patients with neoplastic disease who received anthracycline apart from other cytostatic agents during chemotherapy, without prophylactic protection of cardioprotective drugs. The material consists of 34 children after completed anti-neoplastic treatment. Presently, the patients' age ranges between 9 and 19 years. Anti-neoplastic therapy in these children has been completed for 40-99 months. During chemotherapy, anthracycline preparations were used in the total dose of 180-540 mg/m2. Some patients demonstrated cardiotoxic effect without clinical symptoms, which was independent of the cumulative dose of anthracycline. It manifested itself in the changes in electrocardiographic record (QT prolongation), as well as the decrease of left ventricular circumferential shortening fraction by 5% or more in echocardiographic examination when compared to the values observed before treatment. Therefore, further observation of patients with electro- or echocardiographic anomalies is necessary in order to exclude myocardial damage.

Keywords: cardiotoxicity, Anthracyclines, neoplastic diseases