The MUGA scan’s role in monitoring cancer therapy

You may need some tests before starting your course of treatment. These will include blood tests and possibly urine or heart tests.

Before each cycle of chemotherapy, you’ll normally have blood tests and see the doctor or specialist chemotherapy nurse.

This can take some time. Your GP, practice nurse or the staff at a hospital close to your home may be able to test your blood a day or two before your treatment, so that you don’t have to wait so long on the day of your treatment. If your blood is tested at your GP surgery, or at another hospital, the results can be sent to the hospital where you are having your treatment. Sometimes, you may also need to have more x-rays or scans.

The MUGA is am amazing test, no pain only the prick of the needle, here is some information:

Adriamycin (generic name – doxorubicin) is a chemotherapeutic drug that
is commonly used, in combination with other drugs, in the treatment of
cancer. A serious problem with Adriamycin is that it can be toxic to the
heart muscle, and can lead to heart failure.

Doctors have developed strategies to minimize the risk of damaging
the heart muscle with Adriamycin. These strategies include: avoiding
the drug altogether in patients who already have heart disease; keeping
the total dosage given to each patient below a certain “threshold” value;
and monitoring the patient’s cardiac function by means of the MUGA
scan.

The MUGA scan (MUltiple Gated Acquisition scan) is a noninvasive
test
that produces a moving image of the heart. From this image, the health of
the heart’s major pumping chamber (the left ventricle) can be assessed.

A MUGA scan is performed by attaching a radioactive substance,
Technetium 99, to red blood cells, then injecting the red blood cells
into the patient’s bloodstream. (The level of radiation to which a patient
is exposed during this test is considered minimal.) The patient is then
placed under a special camera (a gamma camera), and with some fancy
computer manipulation, a “movie” of the beating heart is made. From
this moving image, the MUGA scan gives an accurate and reproducible
way to measure the ejection fraction of the left ventricle.

The left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) is an excellent measure of
overall cardiac function. The ejection fraction is simply the proportion
of blood that is expelled from the ventricle with each heart beat. So, for
instance, if the left ventricle ejects 60% of its blood volume with each
beat, the LVEF is 0.6. (A normal LVEF is 0.5 or greater.)

While there are other ways to measure the LVEF (such as the
echocardiogram), the MUGA scan measures it more accurately
than any other method. In situations where it is important to
detect minor changes in a patient’s LVEF – such as in following
patients receiving Adriamycin – most experts believe the MUGA scan
the best test available.

Before a patient receives their first dose of Adriamycin, a MUGA
scan is usually performed, both to establish a baseline LVEF, and
to rule out pre-existing cardiac disease. The MUGA scan is then
repeated after a certain amount of Adriamycin is administered
(400 milligrams of Adriamycin per square meter of surface area –
a number determined by the patient’s height and weight). More MUGA
scans are repeated periodically, as more Adriamycin is given. If the patient’s
LVEF begins to decrease, then the doctor and patient must reconsider the risks
and benefits of continuing with Adriamycin in view of this apparent early
cardiac toxicity.

Thus, the MUGA scan plays an important role in allowing Adriamycin to be
 used in the treatment of cancer, while minimizing the risk of cardiac toxicity.