Good Scan Today

Mary Jo had a MUGA (multi gated acquisition) scan today at the Fairview Ridges Hospital in Burnsville. The scan was ordered by Mary Jo’s oncologist, Dr Gall to monitor heart function capacity. The ongoing treatment of the biologic chemo therapy drug Herceptin has a nasty side effect of being very hard on patients heart function so it is imperative that scans be performed every three months. Mary Jo’s scored a heart function result of a 69. This represents a score ever so slightly lower than what was recorded on her previous scan, where Mary Jo scored a 71. A MUGA scan result has a degree of error of + or - 5 points so a 69 is essentially the same as a 71. This is good news. If the heart function score had dropped below a 49, Mary Jo’s oncologist would have to discontinue the important Herceptin treatments.

Mary Jo before the procedure

scanning the left ventricle

scanning the right ventricle