Breast Cancer Survivors Face Heart Failure
March 7, 2007 by Lei
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
Life is unfair. To cure breast cancer, some women receive adjuvant radiation therapy post-surgery, which reduces their overall mortality rate by over 5%. But, these same women face a higher risk of other cancers and heart disease.
A recent study has shown that women who received radiation to the internal mammary chain for breast cancer in the 1980s have two times higher risk of developing congestive heart failure and valvular dysfunction. Women who also smoked had a three times greater risk of myocardial infarction.
Chemotherapy to treat cancer also has the potential to damage the heart. Dr. Timothy Moynihan of the Mayo Clinic:
Chemotherapy side effects may include an increased risk of heart disease, especially weakness of the heart muscle (cardiomyopathy). Fortunately, heart disease associated with chemotherapy is relatively rare and typically occurs only with certain types of chemotherapy.
Read what else Dr. Moynihan says about the link between chemotherapy and heart disease. And for more about cancer, visit Cancer Commentary. Robin Dunn Bryant, who recently finished chemotherapy for breast cancer, joined the Cancer Commentary team this month. Her story begins here.
Like this post? Why not read another? Every page you read at A Hearty Life in March is helping to raise money for the British Heart Foundation.
MedPage Today, March 6, 2007
Tags: cancer, cardiotoxicity, heart, heart disease, radiation therapy, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, diseases, illness, health, medicine
