Quantitative cardiovascular magnetic resonance findings and clinical risk factors predict cardiovascular outcomes in breast cancer patients.

BACKGROUND: Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) global longitudinal strain and circumferential strain abnormalities have been associated with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) reduction and cardiotoxicity from oncologic therapy. However, few studies have evaluated the associations of strain and cardiovascular outcomes. OBJECTIVES: To assess CMR circumferential and global longitudinal strain (GLS) correlations with cardiovascular outcomes including myocardial infarction, systolic dysfunction, diastolic dysfunction, arrhythmias and valvular disease in breast cancer patients treated with and without anthracyclines and/or trastuzumab therapy. METHODS: Breast cancer patients with a CMR from 2013-2017 at Yale New Haven Hospital were included. Patient co-morbidities, medications, and cardiovascular outcomes were obtained from chart review. Biostatistical analyses, including Pearson correlations, competing risk regression model, and competing risk survival curves comparing the two groups were analyzed. RESULTS: 116 breast cancer with CMRs were included in our analysis to assess differences between Anthracycline/Trastuzumab (AT) (62) treated versus non anthracycline/trastuzumab (NAT) (54) treated patients in terms of imaging characteristics and outcomes. More AT patients 17 (27.4%) developed systolic heart failure compared to the NAT group 6 (10.9%), p = 0.025. Statin use was associated with a significant reduction in future arrhythmias (HR 0.416; 95% CI 0.229-0.755, p = 0.004). In a sub-group of 13 patients that underwent stress CMR, we did not find evidence of microvascular dysfunction by sub-endocardial/sub-epicardial myocardial perfusion index ratio after adjusting for ischemic heart disease. CONCLUSIONS: In our study, CMR detected signs of subclinical cardiotoxicity such as strain abnormalities despite normal LV function and abnormal circumferential strain was associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes such as valvular disease and systolic heart failure. Thus, CMR is an important tool during and after cancer treatment to identity and prognosticate cancer treatment-related cardiotoxicity.

Multimodality Advanced Cardiovascular and Molecular Imaging for Early Detection and Monitoring of Cancer Therapy-Associated Cardiotoxicity and the Role of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data.

Cancer mortality has improved due to earlier detection via screening, as well as due to novel cancer therapies such as tyrosine kinase inhibitors and immune checkpoint inhibitions. However, similarly to older cancer therapies such as anthracyclines, these therapies have also been documented to cause cardiotoxic events including cardiomyopathy, myocardial infarction, myocarditis, arrhythmia, hypertension, and thrombosis. Imaging modalities such as echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are critical in monitoring and evaluating for cardiotoxicity from these treatments, as well as in providing information for the assessment of function and wall motion abnormalities. MRI also allows for additional tissue characterization using T1, T2, extracellular volume (ECV), and delayed gadolinium enhancement (DGE) assessment. Furthermore, emerging technologies may be able to assist with these efforts. Nuclear imaging using targeted radiotracers, some of which are already clinically used, may have more specificity and help provide information on the mechanisms of cardiotoxicity, including in anthracycline mediated cardiomyopathy and checkpoint inhibitor myocarditis. Hyperpolarized MRI may be used to evaluate the effects of oncologic therapy on cardiac metabolism. Lastly, artificial intelligence and big data of imaging modalities may help predict and detect early signs of cardiotoxicity and response to cardioprotective medications as well as provide insights on the added value of molecular imaging and correlations with cardiovascular outcomes. In this review, the current imaging modalities used to assess for cardiotoxicity from cancer treatments are discussed, in addition to ongoing research on targeted molecular radiotracers, hyperpolarized MRI, as well as the role of artificial intelligence (AI) and big data in imaging that would help improve the detection and prognostication of cancer-treatment cardiotoxicity.

The Role and Impact of Social Media in Cardio-oncology During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To give an overview of the role of social media (SoMe) in cardio-oncology during the COVID-19 pandemic. RECENT FINDINGS: SoMe has been critical in fostering education, outreach, awareness, collaboration, dissemination of information, and advocacy in cardio-oncology. This has become increasingly evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, during which SoMe has helped share best practices, community, and research focused on the impact of COVID-19 in cardiology and hematology/oncology, with cardio-oncology at the interface of these two subspecialty fields. A strength of SoMe is the ability to amplify a message in real-time, globally, with minimal investment of resources. This has been particularly beneficial for the emerging field of cardio-hematology/cardio-oncology, a field focused on the interplay of cancer and cardiovascular disease. SoMe field especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. We illustrate how social media has supported innovation (including telemedicine), amplification of healthcare workers' voice, and illumination of pre-existing and continued health disparities within the field of cardio-oncology during the pandemic.

Adverse cardiovascular events in patients treated with mogamulizumab.

Study objectives: Mogamulizumab is an important treatment for T-cell leukemia and lymphoma. Adverse cardiovascular events (ACE) after mogamulizumab therapy have not been investigated. The aim of the study is to investigate ACE occurrence after mogamulizumab therapy. Methods: The International World Health Organization database, VigiBase, was analyzed from January 2013 to August 2019 for all adverse events, including ACE, that occurred after mogamulizumab treatment. ACE was defined as: cardiac death, myocardial infarction, heart failure, myocarditis, arrhythmia, vasculitis, thrombosis, palpitations and new hypertension. Results: ACE after mogamulizumab therapy affected 28 out of 650 unique patients (4.3%). Heart failure (42.8%) and ventricular arrhythmias (17.85%) were most common. ACE accounted for 10% of all fatal adverse outcomes, and 25% of all ACE were fatal. Time to fatal outcome was significantly shorter for patients with ACE compared to non-cardiovascular events, with a mean of 7.7 days (SD 6.91) vs 73 days (SD 90.7), p = 0.017, respectively. There was an increased total number of adverse cardiovascular events in patients greater than 65 and in Asian countries. Conclusions: Cardiovascular toxicity with mogamulizumab is a possible early occurring adverse outcome associated with high mortality.

Nuclear cardiology in the context of multimodality imaging to detect cardiac toxicity from cancer therapeutics: Established and emerging methods.

The complexity of cancer therapies has vastly expanded in the last decade, along with type and severity of cardiac toxicities associated with these treatments. Prevention of pre-clinical cardiotoxicity may improve cardiovascular outcomes and circumvent the decision to place life-sustaining chemotherapeutic agents on hold, making the early detection of cancer therapeutic related cardiac toxicity with non-invasive imaging essential to the care of these patients. There are several established methods of cardiac imaging in the areas of nuclear cardiology, echocardiography, computed tomography, and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging that are used to assess for cardiovascular toxicity of cancer treatments, with several methods under development. The following review will provide an overview of current and emerging imaging techniques in these areas.

Cardiotoxicity and Cardiac Monitoring Among Chemotherapy-Treated Breast Cancer Patients.

OBJECTIVES: This study sought to determine the rate of chemotherapy-related cardiotoxicity and to estimate adherence to recommendations for cardiac monitoring among breast cancer patients treated with chemotherapy. BACKGROUND: Heart failure (HF) is a known complication associated with cancer therapies. Little is known regarding the rate of chemotherapy-related cardiotoxicity and adherence to recommendations for cardiac monitoring among chemotherapy-treated breast cancer patients. METHODS: Patients >18 years of age with a diagnosis of nonmetastatic invasive breast cancer between 2009 and 2014, treated with chemotherapy within 6 months of their diagnosis, were identified in the Truven Health MarketScan (IBM Watson Health, Cambridge, Massachusetts) database. HF, comorbidities, and treatment details were identified using diagnosis and billing codes. Analyses included descriptive statistics, Cox proportional hazard regression, and logistic regression. RESULTS: A total of 16,456 patients were included; the median age was 56 years old. Cardiotoxicity was identified in 4.2% of patients. Therapy with trastuzumab (hazard ratio [HR]: 2.01; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.72 to 2.36) and anthracyclines (HR: 1.53; 95% CI: 1.30 to 1.80), Deyo comorbidity scores (HR: 1.38; 95% CI: 1.15 to 1.66; HR: 2.47; 95% CI: 1.94 to 3.15 for scores of 1 and ≥2, respectively), hypertension (HR: 1.28, 95% CI: 1.09 to 1.51), and valve disease (HR: 1.93; 95% CI: 1.48 to 2.51) were associated with an increased risk of cardiotoxicity. Patients ≤35 years of age (HR: 0.37; 95% CI: 0.19 to 0.72) and 36 to 49 years of age (HR: 0.49; 95% CI: 0.38 to 0.62) were less likely to have cardiotoxicity than patients 65 years of age and older. Among 4,325 patients treated with trastuzumab, guideline-adherent cardiac monitoring was identified in 46.2% of patients. Therapies using anthracyclines (odds ratio [OR]: 1.58; 95% CI: 1.35 to 1.87), taxanes (OR: 1.63; 95% CI: 1.27 to 2.08), and radiation (OR: 1.22; 95% CI: 1.08 to 1.39) were associated with guideline-adherent monitoring. CONCLUSIONS: HF is an uncommon complication of breast cancer therapies. The risk was higher among patients treated with trastuzumab or anthracyclines and lower in younger patients. Cardiac monitoring among trastuzumab-treated patients should be a priority among high-risk patients and in the presence of comorbidities or other chemotherapies such as those using anthracyclines.