Subacute anthracycline cardiotoxicity

Abstract

We describe the case of 25-year-old man, with acute myeloid leukaemia, who presented with a myopericarditis syndrome 17 days post consolidation chemotherapy with high dose cytarabine and idarubicin. Transthoracic echocardiography showed marked transient increased left ventricular wall thickness associated with normal systolic contraction. In conjunction, pulsed tissue Doppler analysis revealed low early diastolic annular velocities, consistent with diastolic dysfunction. Endomyocardial biopsy showed severe interstitial myocardial oedema in the absence of a cellular infiltrate or myofibre damage. We believe this is the first case of subacute anthracycline toxicity described with the pathological findings of isolated myocardial oedema.