Prospective Evaluation of Doxorubicin Cardiotoxicity in Patients with Advanced Soft-tissue Sarcoma Treated in the ANNOUNCE Phase III Randomized Trial

[Purpose] Few prospective studies have assessed anthracycline-associated cardiotoxicity in patients with sarcoma. We evaluated cardiotoxicity in patients with soft-tissue sarcomas administered doxorubicin in the phase III ANNOUNCE trial (NCT02451943).[Patients and Methods] Patients were anthracycline-naïve adults with locally advanced or metastatic disease and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) ≥50%. Patients could receive eight cycles of doxorubicin at 75 mg/m2. The cardioprotectant, dexrazoxane, was allowed at investigator discretion. Symptomatic cardiac adverse events (AEs) were recorded using Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities and graded using Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events 4.0. LVEF deterioration was measured by echocardiogram or multigated acquisition scan, defined as a decrease to 10%.[Results] A total of 504 patients received ≥1 cycles of doxorubicin [median cumulative dose, 450.3 mg/m2 (range, 72.3–634.0)]. Median follow-up of cardiac AEs was 28 weeks. Dexrazoxane was coadministered more frequently to patients receiving higher cumulative doxorubicin doses (38.6% receiving 450 mg/m2), with a low rate of cardiotoxicities, in the context of dexrazoxane coadministration.This study was funded by Eli Lilly and Company. W.D. Tap was funded, in part, through NIH/NCI Cancer Center Support grant P30 CA008748. Medical writing was provided by Dr. Jonathan Pitt (Evidera) and funded by Eli Lilly and Company. The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked advertisement in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.Peer reviewe