Late Cardiac Effects of Doxorubicin Therapy for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Childhood

The anthracyclines doxorubicin and daunorubicin are effective antileukemic agents used widely in chemotherapeutic regimens in children for the past 20 years. 1 , 2 Dose-related cardiotoxicity is commonly recognized, 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 but the late effects on the heart (those occurring more than one year after the administration of doxorubicin) are not known. We therefore evaluated cardiac status in children 1 to 15 years after the successful treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia with chemotherapeutic regimens that included doxorubicin. Methods Subjects All children given a diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia and treated 10 11 12 13 14 15 at the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute and Children's Hospital in Boston (Table 1) who were in . . .