Cardiotoxicity during chemotherapy for advanced gastroenteric tumors

The authors report two cases of patients with advanced gastroenteric carcinoma, which developed different cardiotoxicity patterns after the administration of cytotoxic drugs. The first patient showed a picture of dilatative cardiomyopathy with associated symptoms of angina pectoris and congestive heart failure; the second patient presented a cardiac arrhythmia after several administrations of 5-fluorouracil. The possible mechanisms of these toxic effects, as well as the drug interactions are briefly discussed. Cardiotoxicity of cytotoxic drugs should be considered by oncologists even in patients with no previous history of cardiac disease.