Echocardiogram vs MUGA scan

Cheesequake, as you thought, an echo is like an ultrasound of your heart. I've had them and can classify them in the "nonevent" category.

Best of luck.

Leah

I've had both. The echo was much less invasive. My cardiologist couldn't understand why I was getting a Muga every three months because of the extraradiation. I think the echo took about 30 minutes. It's an ultrasound of the heart so I had to change positions a couple times so she could look at different angles.

I've had both the Muga is more precise when they are checking your ejection fraction. In 2010 I was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy my heart was only pumping at 32 %. After being on meds for 4 months. They did a Muga I was told it would tell them the exact %.

Susug - Do you mind if I ask what is your current LVEF? I was told that my LVEF was low/normal by 2 different cardiologists at 56%. No wonder all the old people at the gym could outrun me. Fast forward past b/c dx, 4 rounds TCH plus several more herceptin alone infusions and I was down to an LVEF of 35 - extremely out of breath. I was placed on heart meds & had shown some improvement months later (all the way up to mid/high 40's but breathing much improved). The last several months my breathing problems started returning and gradually getting worse so I had another echo and was told my LVEF was "still normal and in the high 40's". If I started with an LVEF in the mid 50's how is high 40's normal?

I had both MUGA and Echocardiogram (aka TTE). I had MUGA test done just before chemotherapy in late April 2015, and the latter in mid July after my chemo ended in 30 June.

A MUGA (multi-gated acquisition, see pix below of machine) heart scan is used to evaluate how well the individual walls of our heart chambers work and the sequence of heart muscle contractions. The information obtained from this procedure helps our doctor make decisions about our treatment. If we are currently receiving or about to receive chemotherapy, these information supposedly help our oncologist tailor our chemo dose for maximum therapeutic effect.

The whole process for me at my cancer center took about 3 hours. First, I was injected with a radioactive materials via an IV line. Thereafter, I was told to hang around anywhere in the hospital eg Cafeteria, Starbucks, or a quiet corner reading a book, listening to music etc and return back in 2 hours. The reason for this was to ensure the radioactivity will "tag" onto the red blood cells so that they can be viewed during the scan. After about 2 hours, I went back to the scanning department. I was told to lie on a very narrow couch-like table (see pix below) that barely accommodated my entire body. I was told to lie very still while something was attached to my chest to feed my heart rate to the camera that records my blood circulation to my heart. The entire scanning took about 30 mins plus/minus. The table I lie on were slightly tilted and pictures taken,(excluding the 15 mins or so prep time). OR rather it could be the two cameras that rotated in a circular motion that made me feel that the table tilted.

After MUGA, I was advised to drink as much water as possible to help discharge the radioactive materials. I was also told these would happen between 24-48 hours. During that time, I must stay away from children or pregnant women since I was radioactive. I could shower after about 4 hours or so. The results were transmitted to my MO who would then advise whether I can proceed with chemo or not at my next appointment.

I also had my Echocardiogram (aka TTE -- for some reason the nurses at my center also calls it EKG even though it would be better if they use the technically correct term TTE) after the completion of my chemotherapy sometime in mid-July 2015 (10 weekly sessions in all, of 3.5 hours total of concurrent Herceptin and Paclitaxel, including pre-medications to both). My MO said the purpose of the TTE was to measure the degree of cardiotoxicity of Herceptin to my heart after chemotherapy. The entire process for this took only about a hour or so.

Luckily for me, the results of both my MUGA and TTE were favorable - heart functioning fine in both situations.

NOTE: There are two types of EKGs, (actually yes, EKG/ECG and TTE/EKG) -

One is just a simple EKG (commonly called ECG) that we are sent to do a week or several weeks before surgery. That EKG/ECG only takes 10-15 mins. It is done to measure our heart rate. The table we lie on is stationery. Long wires are hooked up to the machine next to the table, and at the end of each of these wires are EKG/ECG patches that are taped to various parts of our chest.

The more intensive "EKG" that I did post chemo is actually called the Transthoracic Echocardiogram (TTE, but simplify as EKG at my center, which can be confusing). In this one, I lie topless on a cushioned table. The sonographer performs this test. The process described below is exactly what was done to me:

An instrument called a transducer is placed on my ribs near the breast bone and directed toward the heart. This device releases high-frequency sound waves. Images were taken at other locations as well, including underneath and slightly to the left of your nipple and in the upper abdomen. A gel-like transparent cream is applied to the area where the transducer is moved, much like the one the Ob.Gyn uses in the ultrasound for pregnant woman.The transducer picks up the echoes of sound waves and transmits them as electrical impulses. The echocardiography machine converts these impulses into moving pictures of the heart. Still pictures are also taken. Pictures can be two-dimensional or three-dimensional. The type of picture will depend on the part of the heart being evaluated and the type of machine.A Doppler echocardiogram records the motion of blood through the heart.

This link http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003869.htm provides further details if you're interested to read.

I lie topless in the supine position during TTE. Then my sonographer asked me to turn first to my left for the above process. That took about 20 minutes. Then she told me to turn to my right and the same process was repeated So it took another 20 minutes. So, in total it took about 40 minutes. She would then submit the results to a heart doctor who interprets the results. Those results were than faxed to my MO who would discuss them with me in my follow up visit with him.

Hope these info helps. Sending good wishes to you.

Below is a pix of the MUGA machine use by my cancer center.

@ Cheesequake....If I can get the Heart Center where I had done my TTE to give me of both the Transthoracic Echocardiogram, I'll come back and share the with you. My MUGA was done at another hospital next to my Cancer Center. If I can get those images, I will post them in my thread at the link below.

MUGA Machine

UPDATE: Aug. 21, 2015 (FRIDAY)

Had my 8th radiation treatment this morning at my Cancer Center. I stopped by the National Heart Center next door where I had my Transthoracic Echo (TTE) done back in July 23rd..... I asked about getting copies of my TTE images with one of the kindly sonographers who informed the Supervisor who agreed to give me my images. There were 112 images in all. As promised, I am posting one segment below to share with anyone visiting this thread who might be interested. Yes, I've got my TTE results back from my MO back in Aug 3rd that says everything's OK. I'm also planning to go back to the hospital next door to get images of my MUGA even though the results came back good as well. Now that I've more time on my hand, I gonna find a useful article about "How to read your MUGA report." Will share if and when I find it.

All the best to everyone still travelling down this journey...

P.S. If you are interested in reading about my journey, I have a thread in this site at this link below. I must warn that it is a very long thread that will take a lot of your time reading because I've put a lot of detail information in there.

https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/147/topic/831038?page=1

The choice here in the U.S. for chemo patients is usually MUGA or Echocardiogram, not to be confused with an EKG, which is an Electrocardiogram. Electrocardiograms measure electrical activity in the heart, while Echocardiograms measure the heart's pumping activity, or ejection fraction percentage - which is what can be damaged by some types of chemotherapeutic agents, as well as Herceptin, and what needs to be checked. I did not have, nor have I heard of anyone else having, a regular EKG for chemo, only pre-operatively. A TTE (Trans Thoracic Echocardiogram) is actually just the long name for an echocardiogram, it is not an EKG. I wanted to clarify this so future readers are clear on the differences.