Early Prediction and Warning for Cardiotoxicity Due to Anthracycline-Based Breast Cancer Chemotherapy

The latest global cancer burden data released by the World Health Organization International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has shown that the incidence of breast cancer ranks first in the world. Anthracycline-based treatments are first-line chemotherapy agents to treat early breast cancer. Although anthracycline-based treatments has significantly improved the 5-year survival rate of breast cancer patients, the cancer therapy-related cardiac dysfunction (CTRCD) caused by anthracyclines has become the major cause of breast cancer death. However, CTRCD patients often have no obvious symptoms of heart failure in the early stage, and the diagnosis is very secretive, resulting in delayed intervention, unable to timely terminate the disease process, and seriously affecting the prognosis.

Echocardiography has the advantages of real-time, non-invasive and repeatable, and is the preferred detection method for asymptomatic CTRCD at present. The diagnosis of asymptomatic CTRCD depends on the change of left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (EF) and global longitudinal strain (GLS) before and after chemotherapy. However, the measurement of LVEF and GLS is based on manual methods, resulting in poor repeatability. Cardiotoxicity due to anthracycline-based breast cancer chemotherapy progresses gradually and changes dynamically with dose and time.

Therefore, this study intends to build an intelligent model for early prediction and warning of asymptomatic CTRCD, so as to provide a reliable basis for timely adjustment of individualized cardiac protection strategies and maintaining LV function and reducing mortality.

Inclusion criteria

• Age ≥18 years
• Histologically or cytopathological confirmed stage I-III HER2+ breast cancer, scheduled to receive consecutive anthracycline chemotherapy or subsequent sequential trastuzumab targeted therapy
• LVEF≥53% before chemotherapy

Exclusion criteria

• life expectancy ≤12 months
• Participating in other ongoing oncology clinical trials
• Prior treatment with anthracyclines or chest radiation therapy
• Pregnant or lactating women
• Ultrasound images of the heart are of very poor quality