Zinecard offers cardioprotection

Children undergoing anthracycline therapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia saw cardioprotective benefits with dexrazoxane (Zinecard or Cardioxane), which signifi cantly reduced the occurrence of long-term heart damage without negatively aff ecting the eff ectiveness of chemotherapy.

The 205 subjects received either 10 doses of high-dose doxorubicin (300 mg/m2) alone or doxorubicin preceded by an infusion of dexrazoxane.

Sixty-six children who received doxorubicin alone and 68 children who received doxorubicin and dexrazoxane had at least one echocardiogram after treatment.

After fi ve years of follow-up, the mean left ventricular fractional shortening and end-systolic dimension Z-scores were significantly worse than normal for children who received doxorubicin alone, but not for those who also received dexrazoxane (Lancet Oncol online, September 15, 2010).