If Breast Cancer Doesn ' t Kill You, Heart Failure Might

File this in the category of the stuff we should have been told but weren ' t. Many women diagnosed with breast cancer, are given chemotherapy as part of their treatment. One of the drugs commonly used is calledDoxorubicin, also known Adriamycin or Rubex, or as us patients have been known to call it ' red devil ' , which carries a significant cardiac risk.When you are given it in chemo the nurses put on masks and special gowns to protect them. No thought of the patients. I was told it could cause some cardiac issues but now I am learning that the danger is very real and very concerning." “Both breast cancer and cardiovascular disease share risk factors,” said Dr. Susan Gilchrist, a cardiologist at MD Anderson whose research focuses on cardiorespiratory fitness in cancer patients. " That includes weight gain, loss of exercise or sedentary behaviors, and metabolic dysfunction, which are a risks factor for breast cancer recurrence and cardiovascular disease. ”The greatest risk is from the chemotherapy drug doxorubicin, an anthracyclin. Eight treatments increase heart failure risk by 5 percent, up to a 48 percent increase after 14 doses, the doctors wrote in the statement.But women with breast cancer are not encouraged to avoid treatment. "So there is a fairly significant risk of of cardiac damage but they are not going to encourage us to skip that treatment? If the you don ' t die of breast cancer, heart failure is more likely to kill you. Instead of skipping adriamycin fo...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: breast cancer treatment cardiac chemotherapy Source Type: blogs