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On December 11, 2015, Deborah Brauser of Medscape reported on a new study that shows that the risk of heart disease is increased by the presence of cancers. Her article, Cancers May Impair Heart Function, Even Without Chemo: More Evidence, presents a strong case in support of this theory.
Earlier this month, several medical professionals attended the European Society of Cardiology’s EuroEcho-Imaging 2015 meeting in Seville, Spain. This is the world’s largest cardiovascular imaging conference and it attracted attendees from all around the globe. At this conference, researchers from the United Kingdom presented their findings from a new study showing a possible relationship between cancer and the development of chronic heart disease. This study was recently published by the Society of Cardiology®.
One of the study’s lead researchers, Dr. Rajdeep S. Khattar (Royal Brompton Hospital, London, UK), explained, “It is well known that chemotherapy is potentially toxic to the heart, making cancer patients more prone to cardiovascular complications such as heart failure, hypertension or myocardial ischaemia. Our study raises the possibility that tumour growth itself may also damage the heart, which could have important implications for monitoring.”
His study followed 99 cancer patients with normal ejection fraction (LVEF ≥ 55%) and found that myocardial dysfunction, as indicated by reduced strain measurements, was similar between patients who had and had not undergone chemotherapy treatments for their cancers.
This study lined up with the findings of another recent study that Brauser reported on in early October in her article, Cancer Itself May Damage the Heart, Before Any Treatment. This study, published in the medical journal Heart, was conducted by researchers in Vienna, Austria. It observed more than 500 cancer patients, none of whom had undergone previous chemotherapy treatments, and found that in these patients, levels of high-sensitivity troponin (hs-TnT) and five cardiovascular neurohormones were elevated and that they continued to increase as the tumor progressed. These findings suggested that myocardial damage was directly linked to the progression of the cancer, even in the absence of chemotherapy treatments.
You can learn more about Dr. Khattar’s study and its conclusions by reading the full article at Medscape.
