This Article Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a colleague Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Save to my personal folders Download to citation manager Rights & Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Ganz, P. A. Articles by Unger, J. M. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Ganz, P. A. Articles by Unger, J. M. Related Articles Related Correspondence Social Bookmarking                            What's this?

In Reply

University of California at Los Angeles, Johnson Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, CA

Carol M. Moinpour, Joseph M. Unger

Southwest Oncology Group Statistical Center, Seattle, WA

Drs Coccaro and Gallucci's letter is somewhat unusual in that it asks a number of questions about our publication¹ and interspersed, describes observations of the authors from their own setting. We respond to their queries as follows.

Only 33% of the patients in this substudy had received radiation as part of their primary treatment (Table 1 of our article). The sample size for this study was inadequate to compare cardiac event rates among those with radiation and those who did not receive it. Again, the sample size and number of patients receiving radiation was too small to examine this question. In addition, data collection for S8897, the parent treatment study, did not request information about breast cancer laterality.

No study of myocardial perfusion abnormalities were made as part of this protocol. However, we did inquire about whether these tests were done, as an indicator of cardiac symptomatology. We did not ask for a report of the clinical findings when such tests were done.

We describe in our article the short- and long-term follow-up findings in Table 3. We only found differences in angina in the 5- to 8-year group, but not in any other cardiac event types.

We thank Drs Coccaro and Gallucci for their interest in our work. The clinical trial and the follow-up study that we designed were initiated long before there was as much interest in cardiac toxicity as currently. Over time, with the growing number of cancer survivors, understanding the potential risk of treatments (radiation, chemotherapy, biotherapy) for late effects has increased. There is the need for comprehensive prospective studies to examine risks for cardiac toxicity and for monitoring these effects both during and after treatment. We anticipate having better information from treatment evaluation studies that are currently in progress.

AUTHORS’ DISCLOSURES OF POTENTIAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

The author(s) indicated no potential conflicts of interest.

REFERENCE

1. Ganz PA, Hussey MA, Moinpour CM, et al: Late cardiac effects of adjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer survivors treated on Southwest Oncology Protocol S8897. J Clin Oncol 26:1223-1230, 2008[Abstract/Free Full Text]

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Facebook    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

Related Correspondence

• Late Cardiac Effects of Adjuvant Radiotherapy and Chemotherapy in Early Breast Cancer
  Mariarosa Coccaro and Giuseppina Gallucci
  JCO 2008 26: 3288 [Full Text]

This Article Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a colleague Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Save to my personal folders Download to citation manager Rights & Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Ganz, P. A. Articles by Unger, J. M. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Ganz, P. A. Articles by Unger, J. M. Related Articles Related Correspondence Social Bookmarking                            What's this?