A new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Cardiovascular Imaging is calling for cardiac monitoring to be a higher priority for breast cancer survivors who are considered high-risk.
While it’s not common, cardiovascular disease is actually the second leading cause of death among breast cancer survivors, behind only secondary malignancies, partly because of the damage some cancer therapies can cause to the heart.
Read More The new study finds that the risk of heart failure is higher in people who were treated with certain types of chemotherapy. Among people who were treated with trastuzumab-based chemotherapy or Herceptin, 8.3% developed heart failure compared to nearly 3% of patients who did not receive trastuzumab. Researchers also concluded that the risk of heart failure increases with age for these patients. But that doesn't mean younger people are immune. That’s because younger breast cancer patients are often given more aggressive chemotherapy. "In examining the rate of both cardiac monitoring and cardiotoxicity, we could begin to address the controversial issues of whether cardiac monitoring is warranted in young breast cancer patients," says Mariana Henry, lead study author and Yale School of Public Health graduate student.
Cancer patients can be considered high risk for heart problems for a handful of reasons, including age, sex, pre-existing cardiovascular disease, obesity, and smoking, according to Dr. Emanuel Finet, a transplant cardiologist at Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center.
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Dr. Emanuel Finet is a Transplant Cardiologist at the Heart and Vascular Institute at Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center. Read More
