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Cardio-oncology: rationale, aims and future directions
Jiliu Pan1, Felipe Garza2, Alexander R Lyon1,3
1Cardio-Oncology Service, Royal Brompton Hospital, London, UK.
Insights
Cardio-oncology addresses cardiovascular issues in cancer patients, a growing concern due to improved cancer survival. This field manages heart problems caused by cancer therapies, ensuring safe and effective treatment.
Area of Science:
- Cardio-oncology
- Oncology
- Cardiology
Background:
- Cancer survival rates are improving, leading to an increase in patients with cardiovascular comorbidity.
- Cardio-oncology has emerged as a specialized field to manage the complex needs of cancer patients with co-existing heart conditions.
- Modern cancer therapies present a growing array of cardiovascular challenges.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explain the services offered by cardio-oncology.
- To describe the nature of cardiovascular problems associated with contemporary cancer treatments.
- To review the rationale, aims, and roles of cardio-oncology and its future directions.
Main Methods:
- Review of current literature on cardio-oncology.
- Analysis of the impact of cancer therapies on cardiovascular health.
- Exploration of the multidisciplinary approach in cardio-oncology.
Main Results:
- Cardio-oncology services are expanding globally, originating from academic centers.
- Cardio-oncology is integral at all stages of cancer care: pre-treatment risk assessment, during-treatment surveillance, acute complication management, and post-treatment survivor assessment.
- New strategies enable the safe completion of cancer treatment while managing cardiotoxicity.
Conclusions:
- Cardio-oncology is essential for managing cardiovascular complications in cancer patients.
- Multidisciplinary and international collaboration is crucial for the future advancement of cardio-oncology.
- Optimizing cancer treatment completion safely is a key goal of cardio-oncology services.
Purpose Of Review:
Cardiovascular comorbidity among cancer patients is a growing clinical problem with the dramatic improvements in cancer survival. Cardio-oncology has developed as a new medical field dedicated to addressing the complex issues faced by patients who have both cancer and cardiovascular disease. This article explains to the reader what cardio-oncology services provide and the nature of cardiovascular problems caused by the growing array of modern cancer therapies.
Recent Findings:
The list of potentially cardiotoxic cancer therapeutic agents is ever growing and dedicated cardio-oncology experts are required to tackle cardiovascular complications with minimal delay to necessary cancer therapy. Cardio-oncology services originated in academic centres but are now being set up around the world in all hospitals and clinics that provide care to cancer patients. Cardio-oncology plays an increasingly active role at every stage of cancer therapy including baseline risk assessment pretreatment, surveillance and prevention during treatment, response to acute complications and assessment in survivors post cardiotoxic treatments. New treatment strategies exist to optimize cancer treatment so it can be completed safely.
Summary:
In the present review, we explore the rationale, aims and roles of cardio-oncology, as well as future directions, which will certainly require multidisciplinary international collaboration.
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