Evaluation of the changes in Tei-index (myocardial performance index) in Doppler echocardiography before and after treating with anthracycline combinations in children with malignancy

Cardiomyopathy usually causes a cardiac dysfunction resistant to treatment due to anthracycline. This study aimed to evaluate the changes in Tei-Index (myocardial performance index) in patients with malignancies treated with anthracycline.

This case-control study was done on 15 children who were treated with low-dose anthracycline (1-199mg/kg) called group A and 15 children who were treated with high dose (>200mg/kg) anthracycline called group B after acquiring consent from their parents. Children with no abnormality in Echo-Doppler results were included in this study. The patients’ age range between 1- 17 years with a mean age of 6.57 years. Another group of healthy children were assigned to group C as a control group who had not received chemotherapy. The first echo was performed right before the treatment and the second one, two weeks after completing chemotherapy.  Data were analyzed by the SPSS statistical software.

Changes in mean Tei-index in group A were 0.36 ± 0.04 before treatment and 0.43 ± 0.11 after treatment. Changes in mean Tei-index in group B were 0.37 ± 0.04 before treatment and 0.45 ± 0.06 after treatment. There was no significant difference between the two groups using the independent T-test. (p-value= 0.57). No significant correlation between the changes in mean ejection fraction (EF) and treatment was found in the three groups (p-value=0.45).

This study showed a change in the Tei-index (MPI) in patients receiving anthracycline; regardless of the dosage, they got in their regimen. Given the use of anthracycline, any abnormal cardiac finding can alert the physicians to the possibility of cardiomyopathy, hence scheduling routine follow-ups are necessary.