Correlation of radionuclide ventriculography with roentgenological findings in chemotherapy patients

Radionuclide ventriculography (RNV) is a common method to evaluate cardiotoxic effects of drugs applied during chemotherapeutic treatment, whereas thoracic radiographs are used to detect morphologic alterations. Aim of this study was to identify radiographic signs, which correlate with RNV parameters and with RNV image quality. For this study, RNV data of 116 patients receiving chemotherapy acquired during 205 RNV studies (some patients underwent up to 7 follow-up examinations) were correlated to roentgenologic findings assessed by 176 thoracic radiographs. Isolated thoracic radiographic signs of cardiac failure showed only slight correlations to left ventricular ejection fractions measured with radionuclide ventriculography, but the orientation of correlation (positive or negative) could be confirmed well by clinical data. This fact matches clinical experience, that radiographic signs of heart insufficiency can surely predict heart damage only when several of them coincide. By the help of this study it was possible to detect radiographic findings, which are of relevance in patients with suspicion of cardiotoxic damage as side effect of high-dose chemotherapy. The clinical value of several radiologic findings should be reassessed to diagnose cardiac failure in chemotherapy patients.