During Trastuzumab Therapy, Many Patients May Have Suboptimal Cardiac Monitoring

the Cancer Therapy Advisor take:

A large proportion of patients treated with adjuvant trastuzumab had suboptimal cardiac monitoring, a recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology has shown.

For the study, researchers sought to investigate the patterns of cardiac monitoring and identify factors associated with adequate monitoring among older patients with breast cancer treated with adjuvant trastuzumab. Researchers identified 2,203 patients with a median age of 72 years will full Medicare coverage, diagnosed with stage I-III breast cancer, and treated with trastuzumab-based chemotherapy.

Results showed that only 36.0% of patients were adequately monitored for cardiac toxicity. Researchers found that a more recent year of diagnosis (HR = 1.83; 95% CI: 1.32-2.54), anthracycline use (HR = 1.39; 95% CI: 1.14-1.71), female prescribing physician (HR = 1.37; 95% CI: 1.10-1.70, and physician graduating after 1990 (HR = 1.66; 95% CI: 1.29-2.12) were associated with optimal cardiac monitoring.

The findings suggest that efforts to improve the adequacy of cardiac monitoring during adjuvant trastuzumab treatment are needed, especially in patients at higher risk for cardiotoxicity.