Heart repolarization changes after anthracycline therapy in the children with cancer

Anthracyclines are important components of many chemotherapeutic protocols. The present study aimed to evaluate the repolarization changes in electrocardiography (ECG) which may predict drug induced arrhythmia.

In this cross-sectional study, the recorded ECGs were assessed for QT dispersion (QTd), QT corrected dispersion (QTcd), T peak to Tend dispersion (TPed), and P dispersion (Pd) in 12 ECG leads. The demographic information, including sex, age, and duration of drug consumption, were recorded, as well.

In this study, 112 patients, including 58 females (52%) and 54 males (48%) with the mean age of 8.7±4.5 years, as the case group were compared with 43 children, including 17 males (40%) and 26 females (60%), in the control group. Most of our patients (88%) had received usual doses of anthracyclines; i.e., 330 mg/m2. QT dispersion of the patients and the controls was 0.054±0.02 and 0.05± 0.02 seconds, respectively. No significant difference was found between the patients and the controls regarding corrected QT dispersion (P> 0.05). However, P dispersion time had increased in the patients' group. Our study showed that the duration of anthracyclines therapy did not cause any significant increase in ventricular re-polarization parameters.

Anthracyclines may show their cardiac toxicity through increasing P dispersion.