Cardiac imaging in cardiotoxicity: a focus on clinical practice

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Oncology
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Cancer therapeutics can cause long-term cardiovascular adverse events in survivors.
• Myocardial injury from cancer treatment necessitates early detection for cardioprotective strategies.
• Preventing irreversible cardiac dysfunction is crucial without compromising cancer therapy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the role of cardiac imaging in detecting cancer treatment-related myocardial dysfunction.
• To highlight current and emerging cardiac imaging techniques for monitoring cancer patients.

Main Methods:

• Review of current and emerging data on cardiac imaging modalities.
• Focus on echocardiography, cardiac magnetic resonance, and nuclear cardiac imaging.
• Inclusion of speckle tracking echocardiography for subclinical dysfunction detection.

Main Results:

• Cardiac imaging is essential for identifying cardiotoxicity.
• Echocardiography, CMR, and nuclear imaging are key diagnostic tools.
• Speckle tracking echocardiography shows promise for early subclinical detection.

Conclusions:

• Cardiac imaging is vital for early detection of cardiotoxicity in cancer patients.
• Timely intervention can prevent severe cardiac dysfunction and heart failure.
• Integrating cardiac imaging supports safe and effective cancer treatment.