The Assessment of Left Ventricle Function and Subclinical Atherosclerosis in Patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Aim To assess the onset of early left ventricular (LV) systolic and diastolic function impairment and the subclinical atherosclerosis following chemotherapy in patients diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

Thirty patients diagnosed with AML with no cardiac history, having LV ejection fraction (LVEF) >50%, were evaluated at baseline and 6 months after starting four cycles of chemotherapy. We measured LV function, global longitudinal strain and subclinical atherosclerosis markers: intima-media thickness (IMT), arterial stiffness aortic pulse wave velocity (PWVAo) and ankle-brachial index (ABI).

LVEF had decreased at 6 months after treatment initialization (p<0.001), the same changes being observed for LV fraction shortening (p<0.001), mitral annular plane systolic excursion and S' wave (p<0.001 and p<0.05). Bilateral IMT and PWVAo significantly increased, 12 out of 30 patients (40%) had LVEF ≤50% after 6 months of chemotherapy, five of them receiving daunorubicin at more than 500 mg/m²/injection.

LV function is impaired after 6 months of chemotherapy, with early changes of subclinical atherosclerosis becoming evident.