Cardiac late effects of cancer therapy and possibilities of prevention

Thanks to advances in medicine, four out of five children with cancer can be cured nowadays. However, cancer therapies carry the risk of late effects.

Certain chemotherapies such as anthracyclines and chest radiotherapy can lead to heart problems later in life. Other chemotherapies are suspected of having a negative effect on the heart.

Various approaches are being pursued to prevent such heart problems. For example, efforts are being made to protect the heart during cancer therapy with new drugs. It has also been found that concomitant diseases such as high blood pressure or diabetes mellitus significantly increase the risk of heart problems in former childhood cancer patients. A healthy and active lifestyle is therefore important, which can reduce the risk of heart problems.

Regular check-ups with cardiac ultrasound are recommended for those affected in order to recognise heart problems early on. New technologies are currently being tested to detect potential heart problems even earlier. These are being investigated in our study, among others.

Read the full article in German with technical details by Dr Christina Schindera here.