Does assessment of global longitudinal strain (GLS) using speckle tracking echocardiography detect subclinical cardiac dysfunction in cancer patients undergoing cardiotoxic therapies?
GLS assessment using speckle tracking echocardiography is an emerging and guideline-recommended method for early detection of subclinical cardiotoxicity in cancer patients, allowing for timely cardioprotective intervention.
Several therapies used in cancer treatment are potentially cardiotoxic and may cause left ventricular (LV) dysfunction and heart failure. For decades, echocardiography has been the main modality for cardiac assessment in cancer patients, and the parameter examined in the context of cardiotoxicity was the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). The assessment of the global longitudinal strain (GLS) using speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) is an emerging method for detecting and quantifying subtle disturbances in the global long-axis LV systolic function. In the latest ESC guidelines on cardio-oncology, GLS is an important element in diagnosing the cardiotoxicity of oncological therapy. A relative decrease in GLS of >15% during cancer treatment is the recommended cut-off point for suspecting subclinical cardiac dysfunction. An early diagnosis of asymptomatic cardiotoxicity allows the initiation of a cardioprotective treatment and reduces the risk of interruptions or changes in the oncological treatment in the event of LVEF deterioration, which may affect survival.
Sławiński et al. (Fri,) studied this question.
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