LVEF Question
 

My LVEF went from 62% in November to 56% now. Does this seem like a normal range of fluctuation? Just wondering how this compares to your experiences. I am on Herceptin every 3 weeks following 12 weeks of Taxol and Herceptin.

Re: LVEF Question
 

Mine has been at 55% from the baseline test to now. I was told that was good and within normal range. Based on that, I would assume yours is okay at 56% but not sure what it means that it's gone down some. It may just be something to keep an eye on. How much longer do you have on Herceptin?

Re: LVEF Question
 

Has anyone had their LVEF drop this much in 3 months time?

Re: LVEF Question
 

Mine dropped from 59% baseline to 55 in 3 months. and I was perfectly fine. After that it dropped to 50% and then stabilized. I finished all treatments.

Re: LVEF Question
 

I was similar to "nurse". Started at 65, ended at 50. Freaked out when it went to 50 and my oncologist just told me to calm down. Didn't have an echo after Herceptin - no need to. I did buy COQ10 as a supplement but never took a pill

Re: LVEF Question
 

I've been on Herceptin for almost 5 years. My EF fluctuates. Above 50% is good. One time it dropped 10% so they had me skip a treatment and repeat echo and it came back up.

Re: LVEF Question
 

Update...
I talked with my doctor last night and because EF measurement is not that precise he said not to worry. However, I've been having problems with breathing on and off lately. My friend noticed it seems to happen after my Herceptin treatments and lasts a few days. Each time it comes back it seems to get worse. He ordered a diagnostic echo immediately following my next treatment to see if there is any correlation to my symptoms.

Re: LVEF Question
 

I had a MUGA scan done before TCHP and one when the six cycles were done: No dicernible change. Since I am physically active and think I would notice if the left ventricular output would get low, I the felt comfortable with the concologist saying: Under these circumstances a check every halb year should suffice.
So yesterday i got the last dose of herceptin and he then - for no reason I could see - suggested for me to see a cardiologist.
I just nodded like I tend to do with doctors, but once I had some time to think about it, I feel this is just a nuisance. All I could find is the neccessity of frequent testing while in treatment, to be able to stop in time before it does get serious.
But that time is past and I would just get a status report without consequence.

I don't think there is damage, but if there is it would sort itself out, right? And if it doesn't they can't do anything about it anyway. So why bother?

Do I miss anything? Can anyone think of a reason why I would have myself be prodded by yet another doctor?

Re: LVEF Question
 

You would not necessarily notice an issue so don't rely on symptoms. As long as you are having regular ECHO or MUGA during treatment and at the end of treatment and they are normal and not declining, a cardiologist isn't necessary. That said, my MUGA dropped significantly after treatment from early stage and it was only seen because I developed MBC and had a MUGA before restarting Herceptin, an 18 month gap. Damage can improve after it's been done. There are drugs you can be given, yes there is something they can do.

Whether you see a cardiologist or not is up to you but it doesn't hurt anything to have an evaluation by one. It's not like you will need to go for regular evaluations unless you develop an issue.

Re: LVEF Question
 

Thank you for answering.
In germany all oncologists have a second field of experience. My first one was a cardiologist and did the MUGA scans himself. A reference before chemo, a check-up after chemo. I left there even though I thought he knew what he was doing because he gave me essential information and truths only in little bits and mostly when I had found them myself and just asked for confirmation. "Don't read so much on the internet!" When I got angry about this he offered drugs so I could calm down.

Well, I found the other one was not really different, he just took more time to answer if I had questions and he does do me the courtesy of assuming I have a working brain. I guess that is about as much as you can expect, being a production-line-early-stage-bc-patient. But: He is a hematologist and needs to send me to a specialist he works with if he wants information about my heart's condition. Yet another uncaring stranger. And I'd need to go to my former oncologist to get the reference scans. All this when I thought I might now have a chance of never ever having to see any of them again.