Cardiotoxicity of Targeted Cancer Drugs: Concerns, “The Cart Before the Horse,” and Lessons from Trastuzumab

We describe the biologic foundations and clinical evidence for such controversy. We show that trastuzumab cardiotoxicity is probably overrated, leading some experts to raise unjustified overconcerns about the cardiotox icity of trastuzumab as a single agent or in combination with anthracyclines or other old and new drugs. We analyze the biases that caused trastuzumab cardiotoxicity to be overrated.SummaryTrastuzumab is a life-saving agent showing a moderate and clinically manageable cardiac dysfunction, and yet, it is portrayed as cardiotoxic. We take the trastuzumab lesson to reaffirm that cardio-oncologists should provide cancer patients with the best therapeutic opportunity, as is the case for trastuzumab, while also devising the necessary strategies of risk assessment and mitigation.
Source: Current Cardiology Reports - Category: Cardiology Source Type: research