Cardio-Oncology For Heart Patients in Louisville, KY
Baptist Health Louisville: Cardio-Oncology For Heart Patients
The Baptist Health Louisville cardio-oncology program improves quality-of-life for heart patients who have had cancer treatments like chemotherapy.
Cardio-Oncology For Heart Patients in Louisville, KY HealthTalks Transcript
Mini Das, MD, Cardiology:
Cardio-oncology is a recently new area of medicine that’s evolved in the past decade that has to deal with cardiovascular concerns for patients who undergo various types of treatment for cancer. Different types of treatment affect the heart in different ways. If we think about chemotherapy or immunotherapy, those treatment arms are addressing cells or receptors on cell surfaces or within the cells that the drugs affect to kill cancer cells. Some of those receptors are also residing in the heart muscle. When it targets the cancer cells, some of them can also bleach over or run into the receptors in the heart and cause it to get weak.
Ideally, anybody with heart concerns should see us before they start treatment so that we can identify their risk factors, address those risk factors, and prep the heart. As we go through treatment, we have minimized the risk of having complications. If we can catch things early, we know that we may be able to intervene with certain medicines and we can see improvement in the heart function. This has been such an eye opener, and now that we’ve identified it, we can’t step back. You fight one disease process — cancer — and you want to have everything you can to fight it, and to come out at the end of it without something else. I am so thankful to be part of the program.
Next Steps and Useful Resources
Find a Provider
Chemotherapy Side Effects
Antioxidants for Heart Health
The Importance of Cancer Screenings Post-Pandemic