NHS Tayside has moved to reassure Taysiders that patients undergoing cancer care will receive suitable heart checks.
The Courier revealed on Monday that 60% of Ninewells Hospital cancer patients are not receiving recommended cardiology assessments.
Research carried out by Dundee University shows that just over a third of patients receiving breast cancer treatment at Ninewells get the recommended follow-up health scans.
Despite clear guidelines that a patient’s heart function should be assessed before, during and after chemotherapy, the report indicates that just 51% of women underwent a heart check before starting chemo at the hospital.
Of these, only 38% had follow-up scans during the course of their treatment, as recommended by the guidelines.
The scans are recommended given the toxic effects of chemotherapy on the heart.
Now, though, NHS Tayside consultant clinical oncologist Douglas Adamson has insisted the healthboard is committed to ensuring cancer patients are given a high level of care.
He said: “We want to assure the public that NHS Tayside is committed to providing high quality and person-centred care to people who have been treated or are undergoing treatment for breast cancer.
“Our oncology teams follow clinical care pathways that provide the safest and most appropriate care for individual patients.
“Following recently reported research which suggested that Tayside breast cancer patients who undergo chemotherapy were not receiving appropriate heart checks, it is important that patients know the care pathway which is offered in Ninewells.”
Mr Adamson added: “All patients requiring chemotherapy or trastuzumab, an antibody used to treat breast cancer, are assessed by an experienced doctor in a clinic prior to starting chemotherapy treatment. If there are concerns about a patient’s heart function, appropriate investigations are carried out.
“MUGA (Multi Gated Acquisition) scanning, and more rarely echocardiograms, are carried out routinely as part of a cardiac assessment before a patient begins treatment on trastuzumab. A MUGA scan is a nuclear-medicine test designed to evaluate the function of the heart. If heart abnormalities are found during this assessment, the use of trastuzumab would be reviewed as it would no longer be a suitable course of treatment.
“These baseline investigations are not carried out for patients receiving chemotherapy as a treatment audit carried out by clinical teams at NHS Tayside found that the scan exposed patients to a significant dose of radiation, but rarely changed a patient’s course of treatment.
“Patients who develop any symptoms of heart disease receive appropriate scans when required.
“Following these pathways of care provides the safest practice for patients by minimising the risk of investigations, while using appropriate testing to review treatments.”