Background: To study cardiac function and the incidence of anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity in children following treatment according to the nephroblastoma studies SIOP No.9/GPOH and SIOP 93-01/GPOH.
Procedure: Analysis of clinical status, echocardiography, and ECG findings prior to administration of anthracyclines (median cumulative doxorubicin dose: 250 mg/m(2) [range: 90-411 mg/m(2)] and after a median posttherapeutic interval of 2.9 years [range: 0-10.2 years]. Data on cardiac function before and/or after therapy could be obtained of 186 patients.
Results: Posttherapy left ventricular fractional shortening was reduced in 4/157 (2.5%) patients. Out of the 4 children, 2 had clinically reduced tolerance to exercise and received anticongestive therapy. Abnormal ECG findings that were not detectable prior to therapy were found in 7/124 (5.6%) children.
Conclusions: The incidence of abnormal findings is low in our study group in comparison to data from the literature and might be due to the comparably short posttherapeutic interval.
Copyright 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.