Most everyone knows my mom now has lung cancer. She is stage 3 but, she is currently undergoing chemo once a week and radiation five days a week i believe. Anyhow, her third radiation treatment this week she was having some chest pains which they decided i guess to get an ecg on her. Anyway, her HR was like 135 and they ended up doing a echo on her heart too. Found out her Ejection fraction was only 20 percent! So found out she was in Atrial fib...Afib which i know can make your ejection fraction go down itsself. ok now they decided to put her on medical treatment to try to correct it by putting her on dig. Now my question is this would this heart rythem be a result of the chemo? the effect of it? Also how long will it take for the dig to work to correct it and get her ejection fraction back up some? Also will they stop her chemo till shes feeling better or can they keep on doing this? I sure hope so. Im scared i know how dangerous it all is on her well being espically not just the cancer but the EJ now being so dam low...what else is she going to have to go through now! How long can she withstand an ejection fraction so darn low? Any help is appreciated thanks..Sam

Sam, I'm so sorry to hear that your mum is having all these problems - and I'm amazed that no-one has answered your questions!

I'm certainly no doctor, but I've found these sites that I hope will help you.

Ejection Fraction

Managing Chemotherapy Side Effects: Heart Rhythm Changes

Cancer Drugs Can Cause Heart Damage

Please do keep us updated on how your mum is doing, and give her our best wishes.

Thanks so much for all the useful information i do appreciate all the sites to look at and found alot of things there i needed...i don't know why anyone didnt respond either to this question they are usually great and fast! Thanks so much!

Sam, I'm sorry about your Mom also. I read your post, but I just didn't know the answer. I'll keep your Mom in my prayers.