The beta-blocker carvedilol showed some benefit for protecting against heart injury resulting from chemotherapy-induced heart damage, but did not protect against heart dysfunction, results from a new study presented at ACC.18 in Orlando suggested.
The study, which included 200 patients with breast cancer, were randomized to receive either carvedilol at 18.4 mg/day or placebo when beginning anthracycline therapy. The study endpoint was prevention of more than 10% reduction in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) at six months.
According to the study results, there were no statistically significant differences in the primary study endpoint between the two study groups (14.5% for carvedilol versus 13.5% for placebo). For the secondary study endpoint, there were more patients with elevated levels of troponin I (suggestive of heart damage) in the placebo group than the carvedilol group (41.6% versus 26% respectively). There were no differences in NT-proBNP levels between the groups.
“Previous studies have shown that higher troponin levels can predict cardiovascular events, and so we could imagine that carvedilol may be able to prevent these events, but we did not see this finding in our study,” lead author Monica Samuel Avila, MD, of the Heart Failure and Heart Transplant Department at Heart Institute, Clinical Hospital of the Medical School of São Paolo, Brazil, said of the results.
To read more about this study, click here.
© 2025 Mashup Media, LLC, a Formedics Property. All Rights Reserved.