Chemotherapy treatments can be hard on your organs, including your heart. The use of toxic chemical agents to ward off disease may weaken the heart muscle and make you more susceptible to heart disease.
Chemotherapy and heart function
When administered in high doses, chemotherapy can adversely affect your heart by compromising its capacity to operate normally.
Debilitating effects are rare
The majority of chemotherapy patients do not suffer permanent heart damage. Some types of chemotherapy pose little or no threat to your heart health.
The risk of chemotherapy instigating heart problems is most likely to occur during infusion (intravenous application) of the drug.
Prolonged treatment and heart damage
When chemotherapy treatments continue for an extended period of time, your susceptibility to heart problems accelerate. The risk of heart disease is strongly influenced by the total amount of chemotherapy you receive over a lifetime.
Precautionary measures
Prior to starting chemotherapy treatment, your doctor may test your heart to be sure it is functioning at a healthy level. She may decide to use a different type of chemotherapy if you have a history of heart disease.
Keeping a watchful eye on chemo treatments
The total amount of chemotherapy you receive will be carefully monitored by your doctor to lower the possibility of heart damage.
Beyond chemo
There are some newer cancer treatments that may threaten heart health but any debilitating effects appear to be temporary. One such drug, trastuzumab (Herceptin), is used to treat breast cancer.
Report unusal symptoms at once
Be sure to notify your doctor or chemotherapy administrator if you feel pain in your chest or notice other symptoms that may be indicative of a heart attack.
Tags: your heart, heart damage, heart disease, your doctor, amount chemotherapy, amount chemotherapy receive