Cardiac Imaging in Oncology Patients in Europe: a Model for Advancement of CV Safety and Development of Comprehensive CV Care

Abstract

Cancer therapy-related cardiovascular events are widely recognized as a global problem, and cardio-oncology has been proposed as a new approach to coordinate preventive strategies in oncologic patients. Cardiac imaging plays a critical role in this process. This article summarizes current practices and future needs in cardiac imaging to improve the cardiovascular surveillance of cancer patients.

Keywords: Cancer; Cardiac imaging; Cardio-oncology; Echocardiography.

Fig. 1

Cancer and cardiotoxicity (central illustration). The development of cardiotoxicity depends mainly on three factors: the type of cancer, the risk of cancer therapy, and the baseline CV patient’s profile. The first two factors determine the potentially expected toxicity*, and the second defines CV prevention and monitoring strategies during and after cancer treatment to minimize late CV events. To expand cardio-oncology culture, we need to improve our knowledge in the field, and for that purpose, robust collaborative networks, clinical trials, and registries are critical. Nowadays, registries have an increasing role in clinical practice, post-market surveillance, and research. They contribute to build robust prospective risk scores and to define standards for CV monitoring to prevent late diagnosis of irreversible myocardial damage. The big 5 initiatives to improve cardio-oncology are also summarize in this figure (see main text). *CV events; heart failure, cardiac arrhythmias, ischemic heart diseases, hypertension, vascular diseases, pericardium diseases, valvular heart diseases, and pulmonary hypertension