Evaluation of dexrazoxane effect on preventing acute cardiac arrhythmia in patients with breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant/adjuvant anthracycline-based chemotherapy.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Adding dexrazoxane to the treatment during neoadjuvant/adjuvant anthracycline-based chemotherapy in patients with breast cancer prevents the development of heart failure. In this study, we investigated whether dexrazoxane has a protective effect on arrhythmia resulting from chemotherapy. METHODS: Patients with breast cancer who received neoadjuvant/adjuvant anthracycline-based chemotherapy in the medical oncology polyclinic between 2017 and 2020 were included in the study. To investigate the effect of dexrazoxane on arrhythmia, this retrospective study included 70 patients, whose 12-lead surface electrocardiograms (ECGs) and echocardiography were obtained before receiving anthracycline-based treatment and after receiving four cycles of chemotherapy. Thirty-two patients received anthracycline only, and 38 patients received anthracycline and dexrazoxane. Arrhythmia parameters such as QT interval, QTc interval, Tp-e interval, Tp-e/QT, Tp-e/QTc and frontal QRS-T angle were calculated from 12-lead ECGs. RESULTS: Arrhythmia parameters such as frontal QRS-T angle , QT , QTc and heart rate were significantly increased after chemotherapy in both the groups that received dexrazoxane and did not receive dexrazoxane (P < .05). Contrary to the ECG parameters, ejection fraction was decreased in the dexrazoxane group (60.5 ± 2.2 vs 60.1 ± 2.0; P = .038) and the other group (60.4 ± 1.3 vs 60.0 ± 2.6; P = .043) after the chemotherapy. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that dexrazoxane may not have a protective effect on ECG parameters which are predictors of arrhythmia, at breast cancer patients who received anthracyclines.