[Colleens_Husband]

From my understanding, the baseline MUGA is used to see if there is any degradation of the function of the left ventricle due to Herceptin. Raw numbers may or may not tell when the Herceptin is getting to the danger level. As an example, if someone scored a 56, then a doctor may consider pulling them off of Herceptin without a baseline measurement. If the initial base test had a MUGA score of 54, then obviously, there would be evidence that the Herceptin is doing no damage to the heart even though the score was low.

Likewise, if someone scored a 66, then it would appear that everything was normal without a baseline test. If the baseline was a 78, then the 66 could raise a red flag and the doctor would need to schedule more frequent MUGA scans to ensure the patient's safety.

Sometimes a trend is more important than raw numbers.