Summary Survivors of childhood cancer treated with anthracycline chemotherapy or chest radiation are at an increased risk of developing congestive heart failure. In this population, congestive heart ...failure is well recognised as a progressive disorder, with a variable period of asymptomatic cardiomyopathy that precedes signs and symptoms. As a result, several clinical practice guidelines have been developed independently to help with detection and treatment of asymptomatic cardiomyopathy. These guidelines differ with regards to definitions of at-risk populations, surveillance modality and frequency, and recommendations for interventions. Differences between these guidelines could hinder the effective implementation of these recommendations. We report on the results of an international collaboration to harmonise existing cardiomyopathy surveillance recommendations using an evidence-based approach that relied on standardised definitions for outcomes of interest and transparent presentation of the quality of the evidence. The resultant recommendations were graded according to the quality of the evidence and the potential benefit gained from early detection and intervention.
To determine the prevalence of valvular abnormalities after radiation therapy involving the heart region and/or treatment with anthracyclines and to identify associated risk factors in a large cohort ...of 5-year childhood cancer survivors (CCS).
The study cohort consisted of all 626 eligible 5-year CCS diagnosed with childhood cancer in the Emma Children's Hospital/Academic Medical Center between 1966 and 1996 and treated with radiation therapy involving the heart region and/or anthracyclines. We determined the presence of valvular abnormalities according to echocardiograms. Physical radiation dose was converted into the equivalent dose in 2-Gy fractions (EQD2). Using multivariable logistic regression analyses, we examined the associations between cancer treatment and valvular abnormalities.
We identified 225 mainly mild echocardiographic valvular abnormalities in 169 of 545 CCS (31%) with a cardiac assessment (median follow-up time, 14.9 years range, 5.1-36.8 years; median attained age 22.0 years range, 7.0-49.7 years). Twenty-four CCS (4.4%) had 31 moderate or higher-graded abnormalities. Most common abnormalities were tricuspid valve disorders (n=119; 21.8%) and mitral valve disorders (n=73; 13.4%). The risk of valvular abnormalities was associated with increasing radiation dose (using EQD2) involving the heart region (odds ratio 1.33 per 10 Gy) and the presence of congenital heart disease (odds ratio 3.43). We found no statistically significant evidence that anthracyclines increase the risk.
Almost one-third of CCS treated with potentially cardiotoxic therapy had 1 or more asymptomatic, mostly mild valvular abnormalities after a median follow-up of nearly 15 years. The most important risk factors are higher EQD2 to the heart region and congenital heart disease. Studies with longer follow-up are necessary to investigate the clinical course of asymptomatic valvular abnormalities in CCS.
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