Dr. Filip Ionescu (hematology-oncology fellow at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, FL), Dr. Teodora Donisan (cardiology fellow at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN and CardioNerds House Thomas chief), Dr. Sarah Waliany (internal medicine chief resident at Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA), Dr. Dinu Balanescu (internal medicine chief resident at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, MI) and Dr. Amit Goyal (structural interventional cardiology fellow at the Cleveland Clinic, in Cleveland, OH and CardioNerds Co-Founder), discuss the cardiotoxicities of common cancer treatments with Dr. Susan Dent, a medical oncologist and one of the founders of the field of Cardio-Oncology. Using the recently published ESC Guidelines on cardio-oncology, they cover cardiovascular risk stratification in oncology patients, pretreatment testing, as well as prevention and management of established cardiotoxicity resulting from anthracyclines, trastuzumab, and fluoropyrimidines. They touch on the unique aspects of cardio-oncology encountered in patients with breast cancer, rectal cancer, and lung cancer, who are frequently the recipients of multiple cardiotoxic treatments. Audio editing by CardioNerds Academy Intern, student doctor Chelsea Amo Tweneboah.
Access the CardioNerds Cardiac Amyloidosis Series for a deep dive into this important topic.
This episode is supported by a grant from Pfizer Inc.
This CardioNerds Cardio-Oncology series is a multi-institutional collaboration made possible by contributions of stellar fellow leads and expert faculty from several programs, led by series co-chairs, Dr. Giselle Suero Abreu, Dr. Dinu Balanescu, and Dr. Teodora Donisan.
Pearls • Notes • References • Production Team
CardioNerds Cardio-Oncology PageCardioNerds Episode PageCardioNerds AcademyCardionerds Healy Honor Roll
CardioNerds Journal ClubSubscribe to The Heartbeat Newsletter!Check out CardioNerds SWAG!Become a CardioNerds Patron!
Pearls and Quotes - Cancer Therapy-Related Cardiac Dysfunction (CTRCD) – The Oncologist Perspective with Dr. Susan Dent
Formal cardiovascular risk stratification must be performed prior to initiating a potentially cardiotoxic anticancer treatment regimen. Considering both drug toxicity and patient-related factors (e.g., age, smoking, hypertension etc) is important.
Anthracyclines affect the cardiomyocyte in complex ways which lead to a largely irreversible cardiomyopathy. All patients should have a pretreatment echocardiogram and ECG.
Trastuzumab cardiotoxicity, by contrast, is more like stunning the myocardium, which manifests as a reversible decrease in left ventricular ejection fraction which generally normalizes upon discontinuation of the drug.
The treatment of chemotherapy-induced cardiomyopathy should involve interdisciplinary discussions and shared decision making with the patient. Beyond guideline-directed medical therapy of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, management can include temporarily holding or permanently discontinuing the offending agent.
Fluoropyrimidine-associated cardiotoxicity manifests as cardiac ischemia from coronary vasospasm. A 5FU infusion is essentially a stress test as it tends to unmask clinically silent atherosclerosis.
Show notes
What is the basic pretreatment assessment of any oncology patient who is to receive a potentially cardiotoxic regimen?
Awareness and management of the cardiovascular toxicity of oncology treatments are of paramount importance to be able to deliver treatment safely and to achieve maximal efficacy guided by an expert multidisciplinary team. Thanks to Dr. Dent and her colleagues’ work, this year we have seen the publication of the first Cardio-Oncology guideline (1). Perhaps the most important recommendation is that cancer patients about to start a cardiotoxic regimen should undergo formal cardiovascular risk stratification by considering both the adverse profile of the planned treatment...
