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The following is from the current issue (Spring 2007) of the CURE magazine:

Monitoring the Heart
Patients receiving potentially cardiotoxic cancer therapy should be carefully monitored both during and after treatment. An echocardiogram (heart ultrasound) is the primary tool used to monitor heart health, but other tests may also be done, including blood tests, electrocardiograms or multiple-gated acquisition (MUGA) scans, which produce a moving image of the heart muscle.

M.D. Anderson Cancer Center's department of cardiology recently sponsored a panel discussion of oncologists and cardiologists to discuss how to best monitor a patient's heart function. Concerning the issue of whether to use non-invasive echocardiogram or time-consuming yet genearally more precise MUGA, the panel determined either imaging method was acceptable depending on the expertise of the radiologists and cardiologists at a particular cancer center.

Following treatment, survivors should have a yearly checkup to identify any long-term consequences of cancer therapy. Those at higher risk for heart complications may need more frequent monitoring.