Hypothyroid cardiomyopathy in a patient post-doxorubicin chemotherapy

Hypothyroidism may cause decreased cardiac output and heart failure-and when severe, bradycardia and pericardial effusions may develop. Chemotherapies, particularly doxorubicin, are known and often irreversible causes of cardiomyopathy. As such, when cardiomyopathy develops in patients who have been exposed to anthracycline chemotherapy, the importance of ruling out other reversible causes such as hypothyroidism cannot be overstated. We present a case of acute systolic heart failure in a patient post-doxorubicin chemotherapy and radiation therapy for alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, found to have severe hypothyroidism as a reversible cause of cardiomyopathy.