Classification, prevalence, and outcomes of anticancer therapy-induced cardiotoxicity: the CARDIOTOX registry
Study (n=865) found cardiotoxicity in 37.5% of patients given anticancer therapy (31.6% mild, 2.8% moderate, 3.1% severe). The mortality rate was 22.9 deaths per 100 patient years for those with severe cardiotoxicity vs 2.3 in the other groups.
Source:
European Heart Journal
SPS commentary:
Authors conclude that the majority of patients present objective data of myocardial injury/dysfunction during or after cancer therapy. Nevertheless, severe cardiotoxicity (which had a very poor prognosis) was comparatively rare, and this should be reflected in protocols for clinical and research practices.
A related editorial also discusses this research. It states that, after this research, the next goal is to establish the relationship of different grades of cardiotoxicity and the clinical outcomes. The elaboration of a clinical score to determine the risk of severe cardiotoxicity and, according to this, refine the follow-up and treatment of these patients, will be the key of the cardio-oncology field for the present and near future.