hi everybody
i am due to start herceptin and went for a heart scan 17th January , i went for my results today and i was told my readings wrer 48 and too low for herceptin, i am 37 and they have said chemotherapy has propbably caused the heart damage , i am having a muga scan next week to see if there is any improvement , you have to have a reading of 50 for herceptin , i am really worried has anybody else had this ?
galen x
Hi galen
Like you, my 1st reading was 48. Had another muga scan 3 months later and thankfully the reading was 63 so was able to start Herceptin. I’ve since had another Muga and the reading was fine. My onc thinks we take longer to recover from chemo than first thought, so please try not to worry, it seems to be quite common.
Take care xx
Good Morning
Thank you so much for replying, you have made me feel much better this morning
love galen x
Hiya Galen, my first scan the reading was 59 the second was 60 and the third one was 70. So the further I moved on from chemo the better my heart reading was.I am having number 12 in a couple of weeks so hopefully like diddybuff your reading will be higher soon. Take care let us know how you go on love Eileen
Hi
Yes this happened to me - I never had a base line scan, but after being on it for 2 year a routine scan showed my LV to be 48% I wass taken off of herceptin for 2 years an in that time was given a drug called Ramopril and my heart came back up to 70% I have just started it again and will have regular muga scans to keep an eye on things, I beleive my heart damage was caused more from epirubicine than the herceptin, I’m sure once your heart has had time to recover from chemo, the damage is likely to be reversable and they may give you something like ramopril to take along with your herceptin to protect your heart, I was refered to a heart specailist at the Bromton hospital in fulham london - just opposite my hospital the royal marsden, the 2 hospital work closely together and the heart specalist I saw was called Dr Davise if that is any help to you.
This is a very common problem, and your not alone, my actual hospital was still willing to give me hercepting with a reading of 48% as I had no symptoms of heart failure! I chose not to and my cancer remained stable without the herceptin.
Good luck
Amber x
hi
thank you everybody, i was getting a bit panicky as my last chemo was 2nd november and i know there is a time scale for herceptin, so i just hope they send for me soon, i think they had forgotten me in the system as i had to ring for my results and my scan was 7th jan and they only saw me 7th march ! i will let you know how i get on
love galen x
hi Everybody
just to update you, i had my heart scan again yesterday and my reading was 75% i was amazed and really pleased, i start herceptin on tuesday
thank you for your messages of support
love galen x
Hi galen,
so pleased to hear your news. It has amazed me how much the LVEF seems to yoyo. I have been down to 42% but because I had no other symptoms managed to persuade the onc to let me stay on herceptin. The next muga 3mths later was 68%. When I started on it in Feb 04 I had a baseline of 58%, but it seems to vary a lot.
Dawn