Introduction. Although epirubicin has significantly improved outcome in breast cancer (BC) patients, it is responsible for myocardial dysfunction that affects patients’ quality of life. The use of 2D global longitudinal strain (GLS) has been reported to detect early myocardial dysfunction. The aim of this study was to evaluate how GLS changes can predict cardiotoxicity. Methods. We conducted a prospective study from March 2018 to March 2020 on 66 patients with no cardiovascular risk factors, who presented with BC and received epirubicin. We measured left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and GLS before chemotherapy, at three months (T3), and at 12 months (T12) from the last epirubicin infusion. Chemotherapy-Related-Cardiac-Dysfunction (CTRCD) was defined as a decrease of 10% in LVEF to a value below 53% according to ASE and EACI 2014 expert consensus. Results. The mean age at diagnosis was 47 ± 9 years old. At baseline, median LVEF was 70% and median GLS was −21%. Shortly after chemotherapy completion, two patients presented with symptomatic heart failure while asymptomatic CTRCD was revealed in three other patients at T12. Three months after the last epirubicin infusion, median LVEF was 65%, median GLS was −19%, and median GLS variation was 5%. However, in patients who presented with subsequent CTRCD, median GLS at T3 was −16% and median GLS variation was 19% ( p = 0.002 and p < 0.001 , respectively, when compared to patients who did not develop cardiotoxicity). Persistent GLS decrease at T3 was an independent predictor of CTRCD at T12. Age and left-sided thoracic irradiation did not increase the risk of cardiotoxicity in our study while the cumulative dose of epirubicin significantly affected cardiologic findings ( p = 0.001 ). Conclusion. This was the first North African study that assesses the value of measuring GLS to early detect cardiotoxicity. Patients whose GLS remained decreased after 3 months from anthracyclines-base chemotherapy had an increased risk for developing subsequent CTRCD. Further studies with larger sample size are warranted to identify the best cardioprotective molecules to be initiated in these patients before LVEF declines.
Rotavirus is the most common cause of severe diarrhea leading to hospitalization or disease-specific death among young children. Effective vaccines have recently been approved and successful vaccination program implemented. The aim of this study was to evaluate the cost effectiveness of mass rotavirus vaccination program in Iran. We developed a Markov model that reflects key features of rotavirus natural history. Parameters of the model were assessed by field study or developed through literature search and published data. We applied the model to the 2009 Iranian birth cohort and evaluated the costeffectiveness of including the rotavirus vaccine (Rotarix®) into Iranian expanded immunization program (EPI). With an estimated hospitalization rate of 0.05 and outpatient rate of 0.23 cases per person-year, vaccinating cohort of 1231735 infants in Iran with 2 doses of (Rotarix®), would prevent 32092 hospitalizations, 158750 outpatient visits, and 1591 deaths during 5 y of follow-up. Under base-case assumption of $10 cost per course of vaccine, the vaccination would incur an extra cost of $1,019,192 from health care perspective and would avert 54680 DALYs. From societal perspective, there would be $15,192,568 saving for the society with the same averted DALYs. The incremental cost effectiveness ratio showed a cost of $19 US dollars per averted DALY from health care perspective and a saving of $278 US dollars for each averted DALY from societal perspective. Introducing rotavirus vaccine into EPI program would be highly cost-effective public health intervention in Iran.
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