Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Apr 15:9:858334.
doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2022.858334. eCollection 2022.

Cardio-Oncology Rehabilitation and Telehealth: Rationale for Future Integration in Supportive Care of Cancer Survivors

Ladislav Batalik  1   2 , Katerina Filakova  1 , Ivana Radkovcova  1 , Filip Dosbaba  1 , Petr Winnige  1   2 , Daniela Vlazna  1   3   4 , Katerina Batalikova  1 , Marian Felsoci  4   5 , Marios Stefanakis  6 , David Liska  7 , Jannis Papathanasiou  8   9 , Andrea Pokorna  10 , Andrea Janikova  4   11 , Sebastian Rutkowski  12 , Garyfallia Pepera  13
Affiliations
Review

Cardio-Oncology Rehabilitation and Telehealth: Rationale for Future Integration in Supportive Care of Cancer Survivors

Ladislav Batalik et al. Front Cardiovasc Med. .

Abstract

The direct toxicity of cancer treatment threatens patients and survivors with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease or adverse functional changes with subsequent progression of cardiovascular complications. An accumulation of cardiovascular risk factors combined with an unhealthy lifestyle has recently become more common in cancer patients and survivors. It has been recommended to integrate a comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation model called cardio-oncology rehabilitation to mitigate cardiovascular risk. Nevertheless, cardiac rehabilitation interventions limit barriers in low utilization, further exacerbated by the restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, it is essential to integrate alternative interventions such as telehealth, which can overcome several barriers. This literature review was designed as a framework for developing and evaluating telehealth interventions and mobile applications for comprehensive cardio-oncology rehabilitation. We identify knowledge gaps and propose strategies to facilitate the development and integration of cardio-oncology rehabilitation telehealth as an alternative approach to the standard of care for cancer patients and survivors. Despite the limited evidence, the pilot results from included studies support the feasibility and acceptability of telehealth and mobile technologies in cardio-oncology rehabilitation. This new area suggests that telehealth interventions are feasible and induce physiological and psychological benefits for cancer patients and survivors. There is an assumption that telehealth interventions and exercise may be an effective future alternative approach in supportive cancer care.

Keywords: cancer survivors; cardiac rehabilitation; cardio-oncology rehabilitation; exercise; supportive cancer care; telehealth.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Pre-CORE process.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Potential telehealth exercise benefits in cancer patients and survivors. Exercise training can be an effective intervention for attenuating treatment and treatment-related cardiovascular disease prevention.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Yusuf S, Joseph P, Rangarajan S, Islam S, Mente A, Hystad P, et al. Modifiable risk factors, cardiovascular disease, and mortality in 155 722 individuals from 21 high-income, middle-income, and low-income countries (PURE): a prospective cohort study. Lancet. (2020) 395:795–8. 10.1016/S0140-6736(19)32008-2 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Han X, Zhou Y, Liu W. Precision cardio-oncology: understanding the cardiotoxicity of cancer therapy. NPJ Precis Oncol. (2017) 12:31. 10.1038/s41698-017-0034-x - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bloom MW, Hamo CE, Cardinale D, Ky B, Nohria A, Baer L, et al. Cancer therapy-related cardiac dysfunction and heart failure: part 1: definitions, pathophysiology, risk factors, and imaging. Circ Heart Fail. (2016) 9:e002661. 10.1161/CIRCHEARTFAILURE.115.002661 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Babiker HM, McBride A, Newton M, Boehmer LM, Drucker AG, Gowan M, et al. Cardiotoxic effects of chemotherapy: a review of both cytotoxic and molecular targeted oncology therapies and their effect on the cardiovascular system. Crit Rev Oncol Hematol. (2018) 126:186–200. 10.1016/j.critrevonc.2018.03.014 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Banfill K, Giuliani M, Aznar M, Franks K, McWilliam A, Schmitt M, et al. Cardiac toxicity of thoracic radiotherapy: existing evidence and future directions. J Thorac Oncol. (2021) 16:216–27. 10.1016/j.jtho.2020.11.002 - DOI - PMC - PubMed