BACKGROUND Common cancer treatments such as anthracyclines and trastuzumab are associated with an increased risk of cardiotoxicity, which is responsible for significant mortality and morbidity in cancer survivors.[1, 2] Assessment of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) has been, and continues to be the most widely used method for cardiotoxicity risk assessment prior to, surveillance during, and surveillance after administration of potentially cardiotoxic cancer treatment.[3] Since the 1970s,[4] multiple gated acquisition scanning (MUGA) has been the preferred imaging modality for baseline and serial assessment of LVEF for cardiotoxicity. There is concern that contemporary gamma cameras may not allow optimal patient positioning for LVEF assessments.[3] Thus, it is possible that contemporary MUGA in cancer patients may not provide accurate estimates of LVEFs. Inaccurate LVEF assessment may carry significant implications for the care of cancer patients receiving potentially cardiotoxic treatment since LVEFs play an important role in decisions to start, continue, hold or stop such treatment. The objective of this study was to compare the accuracy of LVEFs obtained by contemporary clinical MUGA in consecutive patients with cancer with reference LVEFs from cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR), the gold standard technique for assessment of left ventricular volumes and systolic function.[5] METHODS Patients and data collection The study sample consisted of
A study which was presented at the 15th Annual American College of Cardiology Conference in San Diego, and was also published at the Journal of American College of Cardiology. The department also backed me to present at the 26th Annual Dr. George Perez Research Colloquium at Seton Hall University. Currently, we’re conducting two more studies looking at the utility of Echocardiographic strain imaging for early detection of myocardial impairment in human immunodeficiency virus patients, and the use of Neutrophil to Lymphocyte ratio as a prognostic factor in heart failure patients with preserved ejection
There are many different type of cancers, there are also many different types of treatments. One of the most known types of treatments would be chemotherapy. Chemotherapy can be used for a wide range of different types of cancers and diseases, and each of the different types of cancers or diseases require a different group, and sometimes order, of chemicals to properly treat the cancer or disease. These chemicals include: Alkylating agents, Antimetabolites, Anthracyclines, Topoisomerase inhibitors, mitotic inhibitors, corticosteroids, and more. Each of these drugs previously listed have its own cancer type(s) or disease(s) that it can assist in treating. Some of these cancers include: Leukemia, Lymphoma, Hodgkin disease, multiple
Tis means that the cancer cells are only growing in the most superficial layer of tissue, without growing into deeper tissues. This is also known as in situ cancer or pre-cancer.
Heart failure affects nearly 6 million Americans. It is the leading cause of hospitalization in people older than 65. Roughly 550,000 people are diagnosed with heart failure each year (Emory Healthcare, 2014). Heart failure is a pathologic state where the heart cannot pump enough blood to meet the demand of the body’s metabolic needs or when the ventricle’s ability to fill is impaired. It is not a disease, but rather a complex clinical syndrome. The symptoms of heart failure come from pulmonary vascular congestion and inadequate perfusion of the systemic circulation. Individuals experience orthopnea,
Cancer is a deadly disease that has some very serious effects on a person both physically and mentally. Cancer can result in a simple surgery that may take only a couple days, or a life-long struggle that leaves someone so fatigued and tired that it makes them want to give up. It will put fear in anyone's eyes and will devastate even the strongest of people, but cancer can bring out the courageousness in a person to fight this disease and not give up. It can be a fatal disease but it can also bring out the strength in someone which is an amazing thing. Cancer has many serious effects on a person's body and their mental health and others, but can also inspire a person to dig deep and fight this disease
Noyan, T., Gozlukaya, O., & Cankaya, S. (2013). The Evaluation of Cardiac TroponinI Assays Measured Radiometer AQT90 Flex and ReLIA Analyze
Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) is a chronic dysfunction of the heart’s ability to effectively pump blood throughout the body. Left-sided heart failure is the most common and there are two main types: systolic and diastolic. In simple terms, diastolic heart failure occurs when the left ventricle still pumps effectively, but doesn’t move as much blood as it should due to a filling problem. Systolic heart failure, on the other hand, occurs when the left ventricle does not pump as forcefully as it should, and therefore less blood makes it into circulation per contraction. Researchers and physicians alike are moving away from the classifications of systolic and diastolic as problems with one can produce abnormalities with the other. Instead, they are moving to classifying heart failure as having normal or impaired left ventricular ejection fraction. Impaired ejection fraction (<40%) would be
Other hemodynamic effects have also been reported with usage of ivabradine. In a study by Kurtoglu et al, ivabradine was seen to improve heart rate variability in non-ischemic patients with heart failure. (26). De Luca et al showed that addition of ivabradine to optimal medical therapy in patients with stable heart failure with preserved ejection fraction with New York Heart Association (NYHA) class II, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) > 50% and heart rate > 70 bpm, significantly improved physical performance by increasing exercise capacity (27). Another study in patients with stable ischemic heart failure, NYHA functional class II and LVEF ≤ 40%, confirmed these findings and additionally showed an improved gas exchange (with improvement
Surgery. Radiation. Chemotherapy. Repeat. The treatments that are supposed to cure you bring you closer to the brink of death than you have ever been before. At the final stages, many people pray for death to relieve their suffering. This high tech form of torture should not be how it ends anyone. I watched my 79-year-old grandmother endure these treatments over the course of six months as she slowly slipped into the abyss that is death. By the end, she was no longer the same grandmother that would wake up early whenever we slept over to make us milkshakes and pancakes for breakfast, no longer the same grandmother that seemed to know everything there was to know. This is what people go through every day. Individuals, families, loved ones, they
Usually those patients take extra time before the scan, to try to reduce their heart rates to minimize the blurring on the images.
Project: “Administrative” Versus Adjudicated Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction. I was directly involved in data collection, patient recruitment and manuscript preparation. I had the opportunity to work with investigators and research coordinators to learn about all aspects of clinical research, including human subjects, safety, data analysis, research ethics and regulatory requirements. Our abstract was published in Cardiac Failure Journal August 2014 and had presented at the 18th Annual Scientific meeting of the Heart Failure Society of America, November 2014.
A cardiac nuclear scan is a test that checks the heart for problems, such as:
There is a decrease in cardiac output. Joan Grif Alspach, RN, MSN, explains what heart failure is, “The most recent American College of Cardiology Foundation/American Heart Association guideline for the management of heart failure (HF) defines this disorder as a complex clinical syndrome that results from either a structural or functional impairment of ventricular filling or ejection” (p. 8). Alspach explains what most patients experience with CHF, “…most patients with HF experience fatigue and dyspnea, clinical symptoms that reflect impaired left ventricular function. Some but not all patients with HF present with clinical manifestations of volume overload” (p. 8). My patient had multiple factors that played a role in her diagnosis of CHF which include hypertension, shortness of breath, fatigue, and being a borderline diabetic. She has had both a pacemaker and coronary stent placed inside of her due to cardiovascular problems. Treatment for CHF includes rest, a heart healthy diet, medications, and lifestyle
Cancer is a disease in which cells multiply out of control and gradually build a mass of tissue called a tumor. There has been a large amount of research dedicated to the treatment and cure of cancer. Several types of treatments have been developed. The following are just some of the major examples of cancer therapy: surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, biologic therapy, biorhythms, unconventional treatments, and hyperthermia. Each type of treatment is discussed in detail below.
Today, many psychologists feel that psychological therapy can give cancer patients’ a longer life. The first to take this stance was Psychiatrist David Spiegel M.D., of Stanford University School of Medicine, in a 1989 study Spiegel gathered patients once a week to discuss there feelings about the cancer and here they received support from other cancer sufferers. “When Spiegel followed up a decade later, he discovered that patients who had participated in the sessions had survived an average of 18 months longer than those in the control group” (Clay,2000). It is felt that if you can tap into a patients mind and help them deal with the cancer by dealing in the mental aspect of it that it will be