As the number of long-term cancer survivors grows, so does the number of patients with cardiac damage from chemotherapies and other cancer treatments, Medscape reported Aug. 3.
Cardiac damage that can surface years after treatment is a well-known risk of certain cancer treatments, and cardiac dysfunction is the leading cause of death among long-term cancer survivors.
“That’s the tsunami coming to medical systems around the world,” Alexander Lyon, PhD, a consulting cardiologist at Royal Brompton Hospital in London, and the co-chair of a task force that issued the first European guidelines in cardio-oncology in 2022, told Medscape.
Here is what to know.
1. A recent meta-analysis presented at the European Society of Cardiology’s Council of Cardio-Oncology found that several cardiac drug classes, such as renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitors, beta-blockers and statins, benefited patients experiencing heart dysfunction during cancer therapy. Each showed significant effects in improving patients’ left ventricular ejection fraction and global longitudinal strain.
2. Anthracyclines, fluoropyrimidines such as 5-FU and capecitabine, platinum agents and HER2-targeted drugs are known to have cardiac risks.
3. Patients with breast cancer are among those with the highest risk for treatment-related cardiotoxicity.
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