Effects of Verapamil on Anthracycline-Induced Cardiomyopathy: Preliminary Results of a Prospective Multicenter Trial

The use of anthracyclines and anthrachinones in antineoplastic treatment is limited by the possible induction of irreversible cardiomyopathy [1, 2, 6, 7, 9]. In 1976, Daniels et al. observed a protective effect of subcutaneously administered verapamil in white rabbits [4]. Mullerleile et al. reported a beneficial effect of low-dose oral verapamil in 22 patients with different tumors treated with doxorubicin [10]. The aim of this study was to determine whether verapamil can protect against anthracycline cardiomyopathy without altering the clinical efficiency of the antineoplastic regimen in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) [8, 10–12].