Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine

Cardio Oncology

Cardiooncology is the intersection of heart disorders in patients who have been treated for cancer. Cardiologists can consider patients for eventual danger of developing heart conditions if patients take assured types of cancer drugs, or resulting radiation treatment to the chest. They also help oncologists safeguard their patients during treatment by closely watching the heart and identifying heart trouble early in treatment. Cardio-oncology is an emerging field that takes a team-based approach with cardiologists, oncologists, and hematologists working together for the prevention, early detection and management of cardiovascular disease in cancer patients throughout all stages of cancer therapy and in the survivorship period. The field is rapidly increasing due to the recognition that many agents that are effective cancer therapies leave survivors at heightened risk for cardiovascular disease. Since the original call to arms concerning the need for committed systems to care for these patients in 2010, cardio-oncology clinics have developed around the world, and the demand for cardio-oncology clinics is only going to continue to grow as cancer survivorship increases. There are an predictable 15.5 million cancer survivors living in the United States and 2 million cancer survivors living in the United Kingdom and these numbers are expected to grow.