Cardiovascular complications of chemotherapy

Abstract

Cardiotoxicty of drugs used in chemotherapy regimens is a very important problem in the therapy of cancer. Heart failure, arrhythmias, ischaemic heart disease, myocardial infarction, myocarditis with/or pericarditis and endocardial fibrosis are the most common clinical manifestation of chemotherapy-related cardiotoxicity. The risk of cardiotoxic complications during anti-cancer treatment depends on patient's cardiovascular burden and on the kind of chemotherapeutics used. The highest risk of heart failure development is associated with the use of anthracyclines. Thus, it is crucial to assess myocardial function before the treatment institution, carefully search for potential cardiovascular complications during chemotherapy and after concluding the treatment. More particularly, it regards severe complications of chemotherapy, such as irreversible cardiomyocyte damage resulting in heart failure. The present paper deals with the modern methods of diagnosis and monitoring of cardiovascular complications of chemotherapy and their usefulness in the cardiotoxicity risk assessment. Copyright © 2010 Cornetis.