Non-invasive methods for detection of cardiomyopathy in the course of antineoplastic treatment.

In our group of patients suffering from cancer and treated by polychemotherapy and monitored in a complex non-invasive way we obtained data as follows: A normal physical, sensoric and biochemical cardiac finding prior to treatment has been observed in 47 patients out of 68 (69.1%). A pathological cardiac finding prior to treatment has been found in 18 patients out of 68 (26.5%). Pathological changes evidencing for cardiomyopathy (CMP) induced by chemotherapy have been detected in 19 patients out of 68 (27.6%). Out of 18 patients with a pathological report prior to treatment in 8 of them the polycardiographic, echocardiographic, and biochemical alterations deteriorated during the chemotherapy. CMP induced by polychemotherapy has been found altogether in 27 patients out of 68 (39.6%). In this group of patients with clinically and biochemically detected CMP due to antineoplastic treatment, we found a significant decrease of ejection fraction (EF) (values less than 50%) and a marked increase Weisler's index (WI) (values greater than 0.520) approximately in 30% of patients. Our preliminary results show that polycardiographic examinations of systolic time interval (STI), the EF detected echocardiographically, as well as determination of myocardial isoenzyme creatine phosphokinase (CK-MB) activity represent useful non-invasive methods of early detection of any myocardial damage in the course of actinochemotherapy. A systematic monitoring of patients reduces the uncertainty with antitumor chemotherapy so that it enables--in a majority of cases--to bring the planned antineoplastic treatment to a successful end.