Dexrazoxane Offers Lasting Doxorubicin Cardioprotective Effect in Childhood Cancer Survivors

MONDAY, Aug. 17, 2026 (HealthDay News) — For childhood cancer survivors, dexrazoxane seems to offer a doxorubicin cardioprotective effect on left ventricular (LV) systolic function in the long term, according to a study published online Aug. 6 in Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Erin M. Mobley, Ph.D., M.P.H., from the University of Florida in Jacksonville, and colleagues note that dexrazoxane has been associated with preservation of LV systolic function in relatively small studies of long-term childhood cancer survivors. They examined whether this association is seen in larger populations over time. Echocardiographic data were analyzed from participants who received doxorubicin and were enrolled in five protocols.

The researchers observed preserved LV systolic function in patients treated with dexrazoxane versus without among 895 patients with 2,279 evaluable echocardiograms. Dexrazoxane was also associated with reduced hazards of decreased LV function (fractional shortening <30 percent or ejection fraction <50 percent) occurring one and five years after diagnosis (hazard ratios, 0.58 and 0.54, respectively). Among those classified by current cardiomyopathy screening guidelines as high risk, dexrazoxane seemed to decrease the incidence of reduced LV function to rates similar to those of a lower-risk group (from 40 to 21.8 events/1,000 person-years).

“Now that we”ve established there”s this benefit, and the majority of cancer patients do receive this drug, we will hopefully be able to decrease the frequency of their echocardiograms as they age, although we need to keep studying these survivors to better understand how their cardiovascular health changes as they enter their 50s and 60s,” Mobley said in a statement.

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