Chemo and Heart Care

Q: My wife is undergoing chemotherapy for cancer. Her doctor said the treatment might affect her heart. Is there anything she can do to protect her heart?

A:Certain chemotherapy drugs, such as antitumor antibiotics, may affect the heart. The most common side effect is a weakening of the heart muscle, called cardiomyopathy.

Before starting treatment with such drugs, her doctor will order tests, such as an echocardiogram or a multiple gated acquisition scan, to determine whether she already has cardiomyopathy. If she does, her medical team may suggest chemotherapy agents that are less likely to affect her heart.

If she must take one of the drugs known to cause cardiomyopathy, her doctor will monitor the dosage because the amount of heart muscle damage is related to the dosage. Some of the newer anticancer agents, such as Herceptin, may cause damage that can lead to heart failure; however, this is rare and is reversible once the treatment is discontinued.

Jennifer H. Mieres, M.D., is director of nuclear cardiology and associate professor of clinical medicine at New York University. She’s also a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association.