beta blocker for herceptin

Angela · 02-01-2007, 05:26 PM

I went to my cardiologist yesterday due to a drop in my muga. After chemo (a/c) in 2003 my heart function was at 60. Prior to starting hercepting Jan 12th of this year they did a mugs and it had dropped to 50.7. My cardiologist put me on Coreg, a beta blocker. He said that there has been a study that showed over 1/2 the people taking Coreg had no decreased function in their heart. Has anyone else heard of this or been put on a beta blocker?

I called my oncologist and asked it I should take it and he said yes. The cardiologist is still going to do an echo and treatmill to make sure we aren't missing something. I was just shocked to have dropped almost 10 points without being on any chemo or herceptin. At 42 years old my heart should be functioning much better then 50.7%

02-01-2007, 09:09 PM

In March 2006,I had an echo doppler, and my lvef was 68%. When I went for my first MUGA before herceptin or any chemo, it was 59%, almost a ten percent drop. My next MUGA, three months later after herceptin, was 64%. The radiologist said I might have been under great stress when I got the 59% reading. And it's true, I was under stress during the first MUGA as the technicians had a difficult time finding my veins for the two injections. Were you under any particular stress? Sorry for your worry!

Angela · 02-02-2007, 05:45 AM

With the reoccurence dx, I had the muga and bone scan on the same day and had to go back the next day for a pet scan, yes, I was under a lot of stress. They had told me that from the cat scan it was in my rt lung and my bones. But it was only in my lung...thank God.

Thanks for the information. I am hoping it was an incorrect reading and that when they do the echo it will be much higher.

02-02-2007, 08:39 AM

This weekend I was doing some research for a friend who had an unusually high lvef of 82%. I found in my research that people with thyroid (in her case, low) can have high and low readings. I also read a response by a cardiologist to a woman whose lvef had gone down to 50% after chemotherapy and was concerned. He was very upbeat about the reading,stating that readings can vary by 4/5 points and that he's seen those with 10% readings that lead good lives. In other words, he was telling her not to worry. If I can find that site again, I will post it for you.

MJo · 02-02-2007, 11:50 AM

My LVEF went from 70 to 54 in my year of treatment. A woman in my group was down to 48 by the time she finished Herc in September. She was concerned enough to see a cardiologist who gave her another muga last week. It was 57. I am encouraged that my LVEF can recover too.