Editorial: Trastuzumab induced cardiomyopathy-wider implications for cardio-oncology

Source: Heart Area: News This editorial in 'Heart' notes the twofold rise in incidence of breast cancer over the past 20 years and that treatments have become significantly more effective and mortality has fallen by 50% over the last 30 years, though this has required more aggressive treatment regimens. The authors discuss anthracyclines, HER-2, anthracyclines plus trastuzumab and recent clinical studies, and note a number of unresolved issues:   (1) How big a problem is chemotherapy cardiomyopathy in routine clinical practice (2) Do we have effective means of early diagnosis? (3) Are there effective pharmaceutical interventions?   They suggest that "a more 'joined up' approach to management is required with a multidisciplinary team that brings together the oncologist and the cardiologist with an interest in cancer, along with appropriately sophisticated imaging and nursing and scientific support. A national cardio-oncology registry would provide a large cohort of patients for ...
Source: NeLM - Cardiovascular Medicine - Category: Cardiology Source Type: news