Why the study?
Does routine echocardiogram monitoring identify significant cardiac dysfunction or alter treatment decisions in pediatric patients receiving anthracycline chemotherapy?
Does routine echocardiogram monitoring identify significant cardiac dysfunction or alter treatment decisions in pediatric patients receiving anthracycline chemotherapy?
Routine echocardiogram monitoring before and during anthracycline chemotherapy in pediatric oncology rarely alters treatment decisions, suggesting a need to revise standard monitoring protocols.
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Routine echocardiogram monitoring rarely alters decisions in pediatric anthracycline therapy; leaves open optimal surveillance strategies pending prospective data.
The routine use of echocardiograms to screen for anthracycline-induced cardiac damage before and during chemotherapy rarely identified significant cardiac damage to impact treatment decisions. Improved screening techniques with better discrimination and predictability are needed. Pediatric Oncology cooperative groups should consider a revision of standard monitoring protocols before and during treatment.
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Watts et al. (2011) studied this question.
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