Cardiac imaging and biomarkers in haematological malignancy
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Cardiac Imaging and Blood Biomarkers of Cardiac Injury in Patients Receiving Treatment for Haematological Malignancy
IRAS ID
213528
Contact name
Iwan Harries
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bristol
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 6 months, 1 days
Research summary
Research Summary
Cancer is a leading cause of illness and death but death rates are falling, predominantly because of improvements in chemotherapy, radiotherapy and supportive care. However, some cancer treatments, such as those given to patients with cancers of the blood and bone marrow can damage the heart, leading to problems with the heart and cardiovascular system later on. Therefore, the heart is monitored during such treatments. Current monitoring techniques can miss the subtle, early markers of heart damage. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and novel blood markers may be able to identify heart damage at an early stage, thus allowing the modification of cancer treatment, institution of treatment to protect the heart and avoidance of long term heart damage.Participants scheduled to receive treatment for blood and bone marrow cancers will have a medical history, electrocardiogram (painless recording of the heart's electrical activity), echocardiogram (heart ultrasound scan), heart MRI and blood tests performed. On completion of treatment, patients will be re-evaluated by the same method and then again at 6 months after completing treatment.
The aims of the study will be to:
1. Use cardiac MRI and novel blood markers to characterise early heart damage related to cancer treatment.
2. Compare the results of cardiac MRI to current standard ultrasound assessment.
3. Use cardiac MRI and blood markers to retrospectively risk stratify patients scheduled to receive treatment for blood and bone marrow cancer.Summary of Results
This study achieved its objective of identifying temporal changes to heart function in response to chemotherapy using cardiac MRI, ultrasound and blood tests. We observed variable recovery of heart function 6 months following completion of a certain type of chemotherapy (anthracycline) in patients being treated for lymphoma and leukaemia. An measure of heart function at baseline obtained with MRI (technical term MAPSE) and levels of two circulating blood proteins (termed MicroRNA) were associated with poor recovery of heart function 6 months after completion of chemotherapy. Pending validation by larger studies, these potential ‘predictive’ biomarkers may be a useful tool to inform individualized treatment and monitoring strategies for patients scheduled to receive anthracycline chemotherapy.REC name
West Midlands - Solihull Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/WM/0521
Date of REC Opinion
20 Feb 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion