GSPECT-CT myocardial scintigraphy plus calcium scores as screening tool for prevention of cardiac side effects in leftsided breast cancer radiotherapy.

Purpose: To use gated (G) 99mTc-Tetrofosmin single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)-CT combined with coronary calcium (Ca) scores to assess and differentiate patients with left-sided breast cancer, after surgery and doxorubicin (DOX)-based chemotherapy and who had cardiac risk factors and needed to adapt radiotherapy (RT) in order to prevent cumulative cardiac side effects caused by RT.

Methods: Included were 28 female patients (mean age 49±16 years) with asymptomatic left-sided breast cancer, one month after DOX-based chemotherapy (mean 522±36mg) and before RT. A group of 18 patients (study group) with cardiovascular risk factors was included, while a group of 10 patients with no cardiovascular risk factors served as control.