chemo and heart damage

[Janice]

I am stage 3, highly positive HER2, hormone receptor neg and finished treatment just over a year ago - curently no evidence of disease. My chemo regime was CEF, of which two are toxic to the heart. A few months ago I had a heart attack and wondered if this had anything to do with the chemo.
Does anyone have any info or experience with this?
P.S. I am now only 53 years old.

[AlaskaAngel]

Hi Janice,

I had Adriamycin, not epirubicin, but these drugs are similar. Because of the known cardiotoxic effects of Adriamycin, doctors usually have the patient get either an echocardiogram or a MUGA scan prior to receiving the drug, to tell how well the heart is functioning and to serve as a baseline that they can compare with later if the patient starts having signs or symptoms of heart problems. You can request a copy if either of these studies was done for you prior to your treatment with chemo, and find out whether your heart was considered "normal" prior to chemo.

A.A.