Elsevier

Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases

Volume 53, Issue 2, September–October 2010, Pages 88-93
Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases

The Compelling Need for a Cardiology and Oncology Partnership and the Birth of the International CardiOncology Society

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pcad.2010.06.002Get rights and content

Abstract

Cardiac disease in patients with cancer is common and influences the longevity and quality of life both of patients in active treatment and of survivors of cancer. The disciplines of cardiology and oncology have increasingly recognized the benefits to patients of collaborating in the care of cancer patients with cardiac disease. This increased recognition arises from several factors: the aging population in which both cardiac and cancer diagnoses are common; the cellular and molecular therapeutic targets of newer medical treatments, and, in particular, the specific patient treatment choices and decisions that require careful, effective clinical interactions between these 2 disciplines. Responding to this need for an effective partnership between cardiology and oncology, the International CardiOncology Society was created and has set goals to develop and enhance our understanding and management of these clinical difficulties.

Section snippets

How can we achieve integration between cardiology and oncology with the best practice of medicine?

1. Collaborate at the outset with ongoing research

A. Define CV risk assessment at the beginning of research protocols

There is burgeoning evidence that CV risk factors may have a substantial impact on the cardiac toxicity of cancer chemotherapeutic agents19 and the preventive treatment of CV-related comorbid conditions can have a significant benefit on all-cause mortality and cardiac-related outcomes.20 Because many easily modifiable CV risk factors are not routinely measured in oncology

Conclusions

Cardioncology is a new, interdisciplinary area that is evolving rapidly, based on a comprehensive approach for the management of cancer patients with cardiac diseases. Because there are a lack of evidence-based indications to guide treatment choices and an urgent need for experts in this setting, cardioncology represents a new, largely unexplored clinical field of topical research. The clinicians and researchers involved in this effort have the ambitious task of investigating these scenarios

Statement of Conflict of Interest

All authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

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    Statement of Conflict of Interest: see page 92.

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