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I, too, have had questions about MUGA's and Herceptin. My pre-Herceptin MUGA was 74. After 3 months of Herceptin, it was down to 64. I have been told it is important to have all your MUGAs at the same facility, as there are different software programs in use at different facilities, which may not give a good head-to-head comparison of the rates. The tech where I go said the first one was likely high, and that they are not as particular with the baseline tests as they expect everyone to be normal. After the 64 reading, my onc ordered another MUGA 6 weeks later that was 60. I asked him if we had to stop, but he said as long as the test came back "normal," there was no problem; and added "this isn't a terribly accurate test". (Well, if that is the case, why do we use it?) and said that heart damage from Herceptin in patients who have not had chemotherapy is extremely rare. I asked my internist (who referred me to the onc) and he said for my age (53) 60 was an excellent score, and not to worry. I am supposed to have another MUGA in 3 weeks (6 weeks after the last one). If it goes down a lot on this one, the onc mentioned involving a cardiologist and getting echoes, which sounds responsible to me. I started taking COQ10 after the last one, to see if that would help the score, and I am very curious what the next test will show.
As long as the score is over 50 and the patient has no symptoms, I think most oncs continue to give Herceptin. From what I have read, the presence of symptoms is more of a reason to stop regardless of the score (i.e., symptoms + normal score vs. no symptoms and low score).
Hopeful
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