title: Abnormal cardiomarkers in leukemia patients treated with allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Clinical cardiac complications in oncologic patients may develop from subclinical myocardial damage. Biomarkers N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and troponin T (cTnT) have been hypothesized to reflect preclinical cardiotoxicity earlier than echocardiography. The aim of this study was to assess prospectively the serial values of these cardiomarkers in leukemia patients treated with allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT).
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-one patients who were treated with allogeneic HSCT for acute leukemia at mean age of 32.8 years (range: 19-58) were studied. The conditioning regimen included high-dose cyclophosphamide in combination with total body irradiation (TBI) or busulphan. All patients were treated with anthracyclines earlier (median cumulative dose 250 mg/m, range: 150-580).
  
  
  METHODS
  Cardiomarkers were measured before the preparative regimen (PR) and on days 1, 14 and 30 after HSCT. Their cardiac systolic function was assessed before PR, and 1-2 months after HSCT by echocardiography.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The differences in NT-proBNP before PR and after HSCT were statistically significant (p<0.001). The values of cTnT before and after HSCT were also significantly different (p=0.005). Persistent abnormalities (30 days after HSCT) of NT-proBNP levels were found in 19/21 patients (90.5 %) and of cTnT levels in 10/21 patients (47.6 %). The median cTnT concentrations were higher in patients treated with TBI than in patients without TBI (p=0.013). The median NT-proBNP values were higher in patients pretreated with higher cumulative doses of anthracyclines (>250 mg/m vs ≤250 mg/m) Cardiac symptoms developed in 3/21 (14.3 %) patients (Tab. 1, Fig. 3, Ref. 36).
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Roziakova
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bojtarova
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mistrik
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Krajcovicova
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mladosievicova
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain / Q000097:blood; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000097:blood; D019172:Transplantation Conditioning; D020107:Troponin T / Q000097:blood*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D020107:Troponin T; C109794:pro-brain natriuretic peptide (1-76); D020097:Natriuretic Peptide, Brain