Cardiotoxicity in Pediatric Patients with AML
Mentor: Dr. Kelly Getz
Among children, leukemias are the most prevalent cancer; acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the second most common and the most life-threatening form of leukemia. The prognosis of pediatric AML patients has improved significantly over recent decades, but about a third of patients still experience relapse following a first remission; these patients have a relatively poor prognosis. There is great variability in treatment of relapsed patients, which is poorly understood, and there is a lack of information on the true prevalence, toxicity, and relative effectiveness of treatments being used. A known adverse consequence of AML therapy is cardiotoxicity, which in large part is due to exposure to cardiotoxic chemotherapeutic agents, such as anthracyclines. Cardiotoxicity during AML treatment has been shown to predict cardiac dysfunction later in survivorship. However, data on cardiotoxicity is limited particularly in context relapsed disease.
During my summer research experience, I will provide research support for two of Dr. Getz’s ongoing studies. The first project aims to evaluate cardiotoxicity and chemotherapy dose modifications as mediators of the effects of cardiac-directed pharmacotherapy during frontline pediatric AML treatment on relapse risk and overall survival. The second project aims to compare the effectiveness of varied salvage regimens used for relapsed AML, and to evaluate salvage chemotherapy regimen upon relapse and transplant receipt as mediators of the previously documented association between cardiotoxicity incurred during frontline therapy and decreased overall survival.
