Cardiac Mechanics by Echocardiography in HER2+ Breast Cancer vr1.2
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The Assessment of Cardiac Mechanics by Echocardiography in Patients Receiving Treatment for HER2+ Breast Cancer to Detect Cardiotoxicity.
IRAS ID
198932
Contact name
Janelle Yorke
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Manchester
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 30 days
Research summary
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, 31.2% of all cancers. Treatment with chemotherapy can increase the risk of heart failure (HF) so prompt recognition and treatment of heart damage, cardiotoxicity, is crucial. This risk is increased with the use of immunotherapy in HER2+ patients.
Ultrasound scanning of the heart, echocardiography, is crucial to assess and monitor for cardiac problems during cancer treatment. Current echocardiography techniques to detect heart damage rely on measuring how well blood is pumped out of the heart, known as the ejection fraction (EF). This study aims to evaluate whether additional echocardiography measures that relate to how well the heart muscle moves (assessing cardiac mechanics) may pick up potential damage earlier, eventually allowing early treatment.
Speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) is the preferred method to assess cardiac mechanics. Global longitudinal strain (GLS) has been shown to detect cardiac damage before it is seen by the existing methods in a few small scale studies. As such the American Society for Echocardiography and the European Association for Cardiovascular Imaging issued a consensus statement recommending consideration of its use in practice. Peak atrial longitudinal strain (PALS) has been shown to be a useful measure in other cardiac conditions but there is, as yet, only limited data on its use in assessment of cardiotoxicity.
The aim of this study is to compare STE (GLS and PALS), with LVEF in patients that are HER2+ undergoing breast cancer treatment by immunotherapy over a 6 month period. We aim to provide evidence as to the optimal measures that should be taken by echocardiography to improve patient monitoring for cardiotoxicity. Secondary aims will be to look at the time taken for these analyses to assess their impact and feasibility in clinical practice and look at whether they are reproducible.
REC name
East of England - Cambridge Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/EE/0426
Date of REC Opinion
18 Oct 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion