Global longitudinal strain assessment in long-term survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia

The role of global longitudinal strain (GLS) in the long-term cardiac evaluation of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) survivors is not clearly defined.

To assess the prevalence of subclinical left ventricular systolic dysfunction (SLVD) in long-term survivors of ALL. We also aimed to compare echocardiographic measurements with a control group.

Patients <18 years of age diagnosed with ALL between 1985–2015 at our center were enrolled. Healthy siblings willing to participate were conformed the control group. GLS was measured with an automated software (AutoStrain, Tomtec). SLVD was defined as GLS<18.5% (absolute value) based on the lower limit of the 95% confidence interval in the control group. Group differences were accounted with nverse probability of treatment weighting.

Of the 90 survivors included (37.8% female, time from diagnosis 18 [11–26] years), 24 (26.6%) had SLVD. Left ventricular systolic but not diastolic measurements were reduced compared to the control group (Table 1). Predictors of GLS in the survivors were smoking (p=0.004) and history of hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (p=0.042) (Table 2).

Over ¼ of childhood ALL survivors had abnormal GLS values after a median follow-up of 18 years. Left-ventricular systolic parameters were reduced compared to a control group.

Type of funding sources: Foundation. Main funding source(s): Sociedad Española de Cardiología. Sociedad Andaluza de Cardiología.