Prevalence of anthracycline‐related cardiac dysfunction in long‐term survivors of adult‐onset lymphoma

BACKGROUND Anthracycline‐related heart failure is a leading cause of morbidity in survivors of adult‐onset lymphoma. There is a paucity of information on screening for late‐occurring preclinical disease, which, in turn, has limited guidelines for early detection and intervention. The objectives of this study were to examine the prevalence and risk of cardiac dysfunction, as measured by echocardiography (abnormal left ventricular systolic/diastolic function or strain), in lymphoma survivors who received treatment with anthracyclines and to evaluate the diagnostic yield of blood biomarkers in the asymptomatic setting. METHODS Lymphoma survivors who underwent hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) (n = 78) or received conventional therapy (non‐HCT; n = 77) were compared with each other and with a group of matched controls (n = 51); the study was limited to lymphoma survivors who were >5 years from diagnosis. RESULTS At a median follow‐up of 9.4 years after diagnosis, 1 in 5 (20.6 %) lymphoma survivors had cardiac dysfunction; the odds of having cardiac dysfunction were 6.6‐fold greater (odds ratio [OR], 6.6; P = .01) among lymphoma survivors compared with matched controls. There was a dose‐dependent risk of cardiac dysfunction according to the cumulative anthracycline dose (controls [referent group], 1‐249 mg/m 2 [OR, 4.7; P = .05], and ≥250 mg/m 2 [OR, 7.6; P < .01]), but there was no difference in the prevalence of cardiac dysfunction between conventionally treated and HCT survivors. The diagnostic accuracy of cardiac blood biomarkers in the asymptomatic setting was quite poor. CONCLUSIONS In these long‐term survivors, there was a high rate of cardiac dysfunction that was independent of HCT status. The growing number of lymphoma survivors makes it imperative to identify reliable and cost‐effective strategies to decrease the burden of heart failure in this population. Cancer 2018;124:850‐7.