Short-Term Changes in Cardiac Function in Osteosarcoma Patients Receiving Anthracyclines

Studies of cardiac function in adolescent and young adult survivors have been performed at least a decade after anthracycline exposure, with little knowledge of short-term changes in cardiac function in this age group. To this end, we evaluated cardiac function within a 2-year period among 18 patients who received high-dose anthracyclines for osteosarcoma treatment. At 2 years, there was a significant decline in left ventricular ejection fraction (p = 0.005), with 8 of 18 patients having a >10% reduction. There was a significant change in E-wave velocity (p = 0.04). To our knowledge, this is the first study assessing short-term change in systolic and diastolic function in osteosarcoma patients receiving anthracyclines.