Search

Background: Multiple gated acquisition scanning (MUGA) is a common imaging modality for baseline and serial assessment of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) for cardiotoxicity risk assessment prior to, surveillance during, and surveillance after administration of potentially cardiotoxic cancer treatment. The objective of this study was to compare the accuracy of left ventricular ejection fractions (LVEF) obtained by contemporary clinical multiple gated acquisition scans (MUGA) with reference LVEFs from cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) in consecutive patients with cancer. Methods: In a cross-sectional study, we compared MUGA clinical and CMR reference LVEFs in 75 patients with cancer who had both studies within 30 days. Misclassification was assessed using the two most common thresholds of LVEF used in cardiotoxicity clinical studies and practice: 50 and 55%. Results: Compared to CMR reference LVEFs, MUGA clinical LVEFs were only lower by a mean of 1.5% (48.5% vs. 50.0%, p = 0.17). However, the limits of agreement between MUGA clinical and CMR reference LVEFs were wide at -19.4 to 16. 5%. At LVEF thresholds of 50 and 55%, there was misclassification of 35 and 20% of cancer patients, respectively. Conclusions: MUGA clinical LVEFs are only modestly accurate when compared with CMR reference LVEFs. These data have significant implications on clinical research and patient care of a population with, or at risk for, cardiotoxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Race- and gender-variation in innate immunity may contribute to demographic differences in inflammatory and cardiometabolic disease; yet their influence on dynamic responses during inflammatory stress is poorly understood. Our objective was to examine race and gender influence on the response to experimental endotoxemia. Methods: The Genetics of Evoked Responses to Niacin and Endotoxemia (GENE) study was designed to investigate regulation of inflammatory and metabolic responses during low-grade endotoxemia (LPS 1 ng/kg intravenously) in healthy individuals (median age 24, IQR=7) of European (EA; n=193, 47% female) and African ancestry (AA; n=101, 59% female). Results: Baseline clinical, metabolic, and inflammatory biomarkers by race and gender were consistent with epidemiological literature; pre-LPS cytokines (e.g. median (IQR) IL-6, 2.7 (2) vs.2.1 (2) pg/ml, P=0.001) were higher in AA than EA. In contrast, acute cytokine responses during endotoxemia were lower in AA than EA (e.g. median (IQR) peak IL-1RA, 30 (38) vs.43 (45) ng/ml P=0.002) as was the induction of hepatic acute-phase proteins (e.g. median (IQR) peak CRP 12.9 (9) vs.17.4 (12) mg/L P=0.005). Further, baseline levels of cytokines were only weakly correlated with peak inflammatory responses (all rs <0.2) both in AA and in EA. There were less pronounced and less consistent differences in the response by gender, with males having a higher AUC for CRP response compared to females (median (IQR) AUC: 185 (112) vs. 155 (118), P=0.02). Conclusions: We observed lower levels of evoked inflammation in response to endotoxin in AA compared with EA, despite similar or higher baseline levels of inflammatory markers in AA. Our data also suggest that levels of inflammatory biomarkers measured in epidemiological settings might not predict the degree of acute stress-response or risk of diseases characterized by activation of innate immunity. Trial registration: FDA clinicaltrials.gov registration number NCT00953667 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Multiple gated acquisition scanning (MUGA) is a common imaging modality for baseline and serial assessment of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) for cardiotoxicity risk assessment prior to, surveillance during, and surveillance after administration of potentially cardiotoxic cancer treatment. The objective of this study was to compare the accuracy of left ventricular ejection fractions (LVEF) obtained by contemporary clinical multiple gated acquisition scans (MUGA) with reference LVEFs from cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) in consecutive patients with cancer., Methods: In a cross-sectional study, we compared MUGA clinical and CMR reference LVEFs in 75 patients with cancer who had both studies within 30 days. Misclassification was assessed using the two most common thresholds of LVEF used in cardiotoxicity clinical studies and practice: 50 and 55%., Results: Compared to CMR reference LVEFs, MUGA clinical LVEFs were only lower by a mean of 1.5% (48.5% vs. 50.0%, p = 0.17). However, the limits of agreement between MUGA clinical and CMR reference LVEFs were wide at -19.4 to 16.5%. At LVEF thresholds of 50 and 55%, there was misclassification of 35 and 20% of cancer patients, respectively., Conclusions: MUGA clinical LVEFs are only modestly accurate when compared with CMR reference LVEFs. These data have significant implications on clinical research and patient care of a population with, or at risk for, cardiotoxicity.