by Playfuls Staff |
7th December 2006
Dutch researchers say prolonging a dose of chemotherapy for six or more hours might reduce the risk of heart [more] problems caused by some anti-cancer drugs.
Dr. Elvira van Dalen and colleagues at the Emma Children's Hospital in the Netherlands studied anthracycline drugs, such as daunorubicin and doxorubicin, that are used to treat many types of solid tumors and blood cancers such as leukemias in adults and children. They said anthracycline therapy can be very successful at controlling cancer, but resulting heart damage is a considerable problem.
The researchers found the rates of heart failure among adult patients receiving anthracycline therapy were significantly lower when the patients had an infusion of the drug that lasted six or more hours, compared with shorter infusions times.
In five studies involving 557 patients, the longer treatment cut the risk of heart failure by nearly 75 percent compared with the risk in patients who received the short treatment.
The researchers said the prolonged dose of six hours or more "might be justified" if a patient is at high risk of heart damage or needs a high cumulative dose of the chemotherapy.
The study appears in the journal The Cochrane Library.
© 2006 UPI
