New anticancer therapies have led to a long life expectancy for many patients; however, treatment-related comorbidities have become an issue for long-term cancer survivors. Cardiac toxicity is one of most feared side-effects of anticancer agents so that the gain in life expectancy due to anticancer therapy might be countered by increased mortality due to cardiac problems, above all heart failure (HF), but also myocardial ischaemia, arrhythmias, hypertension, thromboembolism.Detection of cardiac injury is crucial since it may facilitate early therapeutic measures.The incidence of cardiotoxicity depends on different factors related to oncological therapies (type of drug, dose administered during each cycle, cumulative dose, schedule of administration, route of administration, combination of other cardiotoxic drugs or association with radiotherapy) and to patient [age, presence of cardiovascular (CV) risk factors, previous cardiovascular disease (CVD), prior mediastinal radiation therapy]. Adverse cardiotoxic effects induced by chemotherapy are summarized in Table 1.

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Anthracyclines, taxanes and trastuzumab are used for therapy in early breast cancer (EBC) overexpressing Human Epidermal Growth Factor 2 (HER2+). These drugs, considered alone, do not present potential nephrotoxicity. However, renal dysfunction (RD) may increase the myocardial sensibility to the insult of these chemotherapies used in combination. The aim of the study is to assess the role of RD on the development of cardiotoxicity associated with trastuzumab-based adjuvant therapy (aTrastC) for EBC. Clinical and echocardiographic data of 499 women with ERB2+ EBC were analyzed. At 12-month evaluation, any symptoms of heart failure or decrease in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) were recorded. Patients who had cardiotoxicity (n = 130, 26 %) were older (57 ± 11 vs. 55 ± 11 years; p = 0.03), had lower glomerular filtration rate (GFR) (76 ± 15 vs. 83 ± 19 ml/min/1.73 m(2); p = 0.003), higher LVEF (69 ± 6 vs. 63 ± 5 %; p < 0.001) and received more frequent doses of doxorubicin (18 vs. 9 %; p = 0.01) than those who did not. In patients with GFR 60-90 and <60 ml/min/1.73 m(2), the 1-year event rate of cardiotoxicity was 25 and 38 %, respectively. ROC analysis showed that the best cut-off point of GFR for predicting cardiotoxicity was 78 ml/min/1.73 m(2) (AUC = 0.66, [95 % CI 0.57-0.74]). Multiple logistic regression revealed that GRF <78 ml/min/1.73 m(2) was the strongest predictor of cardiotoxicity (OR 3.32 [CI = 1.30-8.65]), independent of doxorubicin treatment and left ventricular ejection fraction. A reduced renal function represents a condition of higher risk of developing cardiotoxicity at 12-month follow-up in patients with HER2 + EBC treated with aTrastC.

Cardiovascular disease and cancer are leading causes of death. Both diseases share the same risk factors and, having the highest incidence and prevalence in the elderly, they often coexist in the same individual. Furthermore, the enhanced survival of cancer patients registered in the last decades and linked to early diagnosis and improvement of care, not infrequently exposes them to the appearance of ominous cardiovascular complications due to the deleterious effects of cancer treatment on the heart and circulatory system. The above considerations have led to the development of a new branch of clinical cardiology based on the principles of multidisciplinary collaboration between cardiologists and oncologists: Cardio-oncology, which aims to find solutions to the prevention, monitoring, diagnosis and treatment of heart damage induced by cancer care in order to pursue, in the individual patient, the best possible care for cancer while minimizing the risk of cardiac toxicity. In this consensus document we provide practical recommendations on how to assess, monitor, treat and supervise the candidate or patient treated with potentially cardiotoxic cancer therapy in order to treat cancer and protect the heart at all stages of the oncological disease. Cardiovascular diseases and cancer often share the same risk factors and can coexist in the same individual. Such possibility is amplified by the deleterious effects of cancer treatment on the heart. The above considerations have led to the development of a new branch of clinical cardiology, based on multidisciplinary collaboration between cardiologist and oncologist: the cardio-oncology. It aims to prevent, monitor, and treat heart damages induced by cancer therapies in order to achieve the most effective cancer treatment, while minimizing the risk of cardiac toxicity. In this paper, we provide practical recommendations on how to assess, monitor, treat and supervise patients treated with potential cardiotoxic cancer therapies.

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