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.
The full article with technical details from Dr. Christina Schindera is available in German via the button below.
© Springer Medizin Verlag 2024. All rights reserved.
This article is made available with permission from Springer Medizin Verlag.
Original publication: Christina Schindera. Kardiale Spätfolgen einer Krebstherapie und Möglichkeiten der Prävention. In: InFo Hämatologie + Onkologie, Issue 11/2024. Link