Cardio-Oncology: Role of Echocardiography

Current therapies for cancer have improved life expectancy of patients. Breast cancer and lymphoma survivors in up to 26% of cases can develop complications as a consequence of the chemotherapeutic and radiotherapeutic treatments. Echocardiography is a noninvasive method that can in all stages of cancer treatment perform a comprehensive evaluation and detect coronary, myocardial, valve and pericardial disease complications secondary to the therapeutic regimen used (radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy). Three-dimensional echocardiography derived left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) has an excellent correlation with cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and can be used to monitor LVEF; 2-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography (2D-STE) derived strain and strain rate can detect changes in myocardial mechanics before changes in LVEF occur and can predict a future decrease in ejection fraction to less than 50% or of greater than 10% indicative of cardiotoxicity. Echocardiography should be used as the method of choice to evaluate serial changes in heart function, detect late side effects of treatment, and to identify patients at risk of a future decrease in LVEF.