Breast cancer patients in Colombia are surviving more now than they used to, which is great news. But there’s a concern that comes with the treatment.
It’s called cardiotoxicity, and it means the treatment can harm the heart. A recent study showed that this happens to about 12% of patients with high body weight who were treated for breast cancer in the North-East region of Colombia.
This study will soon be discussed at a big health conference in Costa Rica.
Ivetteh Gaibor Santos, the main author of the study, says cardiotoxicity has only recently become a big concern in treating cancer.
This issue is still growing in recognition, especially in areas where there’s less money for research. These areas may not have many studies looking at heart damage from breast cancer treatment.
How They Found Out
To do the study, the team used a database of breast cancer patients who started a certain type of chemotherapy between January and December 2021.
They only looked at patients who had heart checks before and after the treatment. The database also had info about the patients’ demographics, cancer details, heart health, and heart scan results.
Cardiotoxicity was identified as a big drop in how well the left part of the heart was pumping blood. Normally, the heart pumps out about half or more of the blood it holds with each beat.
But if this drops by more than 10%, reaching below 50%, or if there’s more than 15% decrease in a certain heart function, it’s a sign of cardiotoxicity.
The study had 67 patients. They were around 55 years old on average and had an average body mass index (BMI) of 26.18 kg/m2. This BMI measure tells us if a person’s weight is healthy based on their height.
The patients also had other health problems like obesity, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes. All patients had normal heart function before starting chemotherapy.
What They Found
The team found that 12% of the patients experienced heart damage. Being overweight or obese (having a BMI of 25 or more) was the only factor that increased the risk of this side effect.
Gaibor Santos says that obesity is a risk factor for both breast cancer and heart disease, but it’s not often handled properly.
Unlike other risk factors, like high blood pressure, she adds, pointing out that all patients in this study were taking drugs to control their blood pressure.
Chemotherapy drugs are made based on body surface area and not body composition, which can lead to more heart risk for obese patients due to wrong dosing.
Taking Action
According to the researchers, it’s very important to spot heart damage and related factors early. This lets doctors reduce the bad effects. The researchers have some suggestions to raise awareness about heart risks in cancer treatment.
They say we need better teaching about cardiotoxicity in medical schools and ongoing medical education.
They also say different medical experts need to work together to better understand and spot cardiotoxicity.
They suggest more research on heart risks in cancer treatment and better use of digital resources to give doctors easy access to the latest information.
Gaibor Santos says that dealing with obesity in cancer patients before starting chemotherapy, and thinking about potential heart risks, needs a careful and thorough approach.
“Doctors could think about things like checking patients before treatment, suggesting changes in lifestyle, and managing heart risk,” she says.
She also stresses that these steps should be chosen based on each patient’s specific needs and the latest research-based guidelines.
If you care about breast cancer, please read studies about a major cause of deadly breast cancer, and common blood pressure drugs may increase death risk in breast cancer.
For more information about cancer, please see recent studies that new cancer treatment could reawaken the immune system, and results showing vitamin D can cut cancer death risk.
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