Utility Of 2d-Speckle Tracking Echocardiography In Early Identification Of Left Ventricular Dysfunction In Antineoplastic Therapy-Induced Cardiotoxicity

631 Background: ErbB2 is overexpressed in about 25% of breast cancers; in the heart, it modulates myocardial development and function. Trastuzumab (T), an anti-ErbB2 inhibitor, has improved the prognosis of patients with breast cancer, but is related to an increased risk of asymptomatic left ventricular (LV) dysfunction (3-34%) and heart failure (2-4%). Conventional measures of ventricular function, such as fractional shortening (FS) and ejection fraction (FE) are insensitive in detecting early cardiomyopathy induced by antineoplastic therapy. Aim of this study is to evaluate whether myocardial strain by 2D-speckle tracking (ST) is able to identify early LV dysfunction in mice treated with doxorubicin (D) and T, alone or in combination (D+T) and to relate data of cardiac function with tissue alterations. Methods: Cardiac function was measured with FS, by M-mode echocardiography, and with radial myocardial strain with ST in sedated C57BL/6 mice (8-10 wk old) at time 0, 2 and 6 days of daily administration ...