الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Anthracyclines constitute a basic chemotherapeutic medicine for breast cancer, but cardiotoxicity is the most common and serious adverse effect. The resulting myocardial dysfunction often leads to discontinuation of treatment with consequent increased risk of cancer recurrence and mortality. The mortality rate of patients with CTRCD has been reported to be as high as 40% over the 5 years following chemotherapy.
During or within 1-year post-treatment, 2–5% of patients develop early onset chronic progressive cardiotoxicity. This common form of cardiotoxicity usually manifests as dilated cardiomyopathy finally. A further 2–10% of patients will develop late-onset chronic cardiotoxicity 1 year after the completion of treatment and since compensatory mechanisms and physiological reserves maintain normal cardiac function until a threshold point is reached, patients may have no obvious symptoms for a long time after chemotherapy. Therefore, early detection of subclinical cardiotoxicity is critical to the reduction of chemotherapy-related adverse cardiac events.
LVEF values are widely used in the clinic to assess patients with myocardial toxicity but the accuracy and sensitivity of such values in determining myocardial injury at an early stage has been questioned. By the time decreases in LVEF values are severe enough to be observed, myocardial dysfunction is already in a state of advanced deterioration. Therefore, there is a pressing need for screening technology to diagnose subclinical dysfunction.
STE has been used over the last decade in the non-invasive evaluation of cardiac mechanics and function. Its utility for diagnosis and longitudinal strain measurement fol