AUTHOR=Guo Shuang , Wong Serena TITLE=Cardiovascular Toxicities from Systemic Breast Cancer Therapy JOURNAL=Frontiers in Oncology VOLUME=4 YEAR=2014 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/oncology/articles/10.3389/fonc.2014.00346 DOI=10.3389/fonc.2014.00346 ISSN=2234-943X ABSTRACT=

Cardiovascular toxicity is unfortunately a potential short- or long-term sequela of breast cancer therapy. Both conventional chemotherapeutic agents such as anthracyclines and newer targeted agents such as trastuzumab can cause varying degrees of cardiac dysfunction. Type I cardiac toxicity is dose-dependent and irreversible, whereas Type II is not dose-dependent and is generally reversible with cessation of the drug. In this review, we discuss what is currently known about the cardiovascular effects of systemic breast cancer treatments, with a focus on the putative mechanisms of toxicity, the role of biomarkers, and potential methods of preventing and minimizing cardiovascular complications.