Good Heart

Mary Jo had a MUGA scan preformed today at the Fairview Ridges Hospital in Burnsville. A MUGA scan is a "MUlti Gated Acquisition" of images of Mary Jo's heart, specifically the left ventricle of her heart. The test was prescribed by her oncologist, Dr Gall to confirm that heart is still performing to acceptable standard of above 51%. She did well on her test with a 71% reading so she is able to continue with her same chemo regiment for now. The combination of the chemo drugs Cytoxin and Herceptin have been associated with heart failure so heart function must be monitored closely during treatment. The MUGA scan test is nuclear medicine and it is a painless procedure. The procedure requires a tech to draw a small vile of Mary Jo's blood and then in the lab they inject a radioactive isotopes into her blood sample. The sample is then injected back into the patient. The "radioactive" material passes through the bloodstream and is "read" by the camera. Mary Jo continues to feel pretty good today. It also helps when you hear some "good news" from a doctor after a test.