Cardiac MRI has notable advantages for patients
at risk for cardiotoxicity from chemotherapy,
including high precision in serial LVEF and left
ventricular dimension measurements, the ability
to differentiate reversible myocardial injury and
permanent scar and a characteristic pattern of
enhancement of the lateral LV wall in trastuzumab-
induced cardiotoxicity [22,26,27]. In a small
pilot study of patients receiving anthracyclines,
cardiac MRI changes on day 3 of treatment were
predictive of a decrease in LVEF at 4 weeks [28].
Further clinical investigation is needed to determine which patients would most benefit from cardiac
MRI for risk prediction and early detection of
cardiotoxicity.