[ANMCO/AICO/AIOM Consensus document: Clinical and management pathways in cardio-oncology]

In Italy, cardiovascular diseases and cancer are the leading causes of death. Both diseases share the same risk factors and, having the highest incidence and prevalence in the elderly, they often coexist in the same individual. Furthermore, the enhanced survival of cancer patients registered in the last decades and linked to early diagnosis and improvement of care, not infrequently exposes them to the appearance of ominous cardiovascular complications due to the deleterious effects of cancer treatment on the heart and circulatory system. The above considerations have led to the development of a new branch of clinical cardiology based on the principles of multidisciplinary collaboration between cardiologists and oncologists: Cardio-oncology, which aims to find solutions to the prevention, monitoring, diagnosis and treatment of heart damage induced by cancer care in order to pursue, in the individual patient, the best possible care for cancer while minimizing the risk of cardiac toxicity. In this consensus document we provide practical recommendations on how to assess, monitor, treat and supervise the candidate or patient treated with potentially cardiotoxic cancer therapy in order to treat cancer and protect the heart at all stages of the oncological disease.