BMC Cardiovasc Disord. 2024 May 20;24(1):260. doi: 10.1186/s12872-024-03922-y.
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Use of doxorubicin, an anthracycline chemotherapeutic agent has been associated with late-occurring cardiac toxicities. Detection of early-occurring cardiac effects of cancer chemotherapy is essential to prevent occurrence of adverse events including toxicity, myocardial dysfunction, and death.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prevalence of elevated cardiac troponin T (cTnT) and associated factors of myocardial injury in children on doxorubicin cancer chemotherapy.
METHODS: Design: A cross-sectional study.
SETTING AND SUBJECTS: A hospital-based study conducted on children aged 1-month to 12.4-years who had a diagnosis of cancer and were admitted at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH).
INTERVENTIONS AND OUTCOMES: The patients underwent Echocardiography (ECHO) before their scheduled chemotherapy infusion. Twenty-four (24) hours after the chemotherapy infusion the patients had an evaluation of the serum cardiac troponin T (cTnT) and a repeat ECHO. Myocardial injury was defined as cTnT level > 0.014 ng/ml or a Fractional Shortening (FS) of < 29% on ECHO.
RESULTS: One hundred (100) children were included in the final analysis. Thirty-two percent (32%) of the study population had an elevated cTnT. A cumulative doxorubicin dose of > 175 mg/m2 was significantly associated with and elevated cTnT (OR, 10.76; 95% CI, 1.18-97.92; p = 0.035). Diagnosis of nephroblastoma was also associated with an elevated cTnT (OR, 3.0; 95% CI, 1.23-7.26) but not statistically significant (p = 0.105). Nine percent (9%) of the participants had echocardiographic evidence of myocardial injury.
CONCLUSION: When compared to echocardiography, elevated levels of cTnT showed a higher association with early-occurring chemotherapy-induced myocardial injury among children on cancer treatment at a tertiary teaching and referral hospital in Kenya.
PMID:38769516 | DOI:10.1186/s12872-024-03922-y
