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fluid round heart

Just realised I posted my original in the wrong place.
I have fluid round my heart, just wondering if any 0ne else has had this. My local dr is not sure if it is glivec related 400mg daily. told me to carry on with this dose til he has spoken too prof at HH also have to see cardiac man again. Any knowledge would be gratefully accepted.
yvonne

Hi Yvonne,
I have not heard of problems with fluid around the heart being caused by imatinib. However there were some reports of a possible link to cardiac side effects last year. I think this was thought to be fairly contentious and that those cases reported had existing cardiac problems.
a snip from:
Blood First Edition Paper, prepublished online April 20, 2007; DOI 10.1182/blood-2007-01-070144Copyright © 2007 American Society of Hematology says...

"Imatinib therapy as a causal factor of CHF is uncommon, mainly seen in elderly patients with pre-existing cardiac conditions. Patients with previous cardiac history should be monitored closely and treated aggressively with standard medical therapy including diuretics if they develop symptoms suggestive of heart failure."

I have some information on very rare serious side effects taken from a presentation at this years New Horizons meeting which will be available on this site next week.

Meanwhile, I hope you are OK and that you can resolve this issue soon.

best wishes,
Sandy