[Adriamycin, cardiotoxicity--a case report]

In 1976, a 61-year-old female was diagnosed as malignant cystosarcoma phyllodes, and she was admitted to the hospital for chemotherapy. She was started receiving the combination chemotherapy consisting of adriamycin. 60 mg/3-week, mitomycin C, 1 mg/week, 5-Fluorouracil, 175 mg/week, and citosine arabinoside, 10 mg/week. The initial ECG revealed incomplete right bundle branch block pattern. After the first 60 mg administration of adriamycin, the ECG showed non-specific ST-T changes in addition to I.R.B.B.B. pattern. At the second 60 mg administration of adriamycin, the ECG returned to normal. After the administration of adriamycin, the ECG showed the same ST-T changes again which were seen at the first adriamycin treatment. The same phenomenon was observed at the third adriamycin treatment. In this case, there was a reproducible coincidence between the administration of adriamycin and the occurrence of non-specific changes on ECG; the fore a possibility of adriamycin cardiotoxicity was strongly suggested.