Although Cancer therapies are producing unprecedented numbers of long-term survivors, many of whom are experiencing heart complications, according to oncologists.
“Cancer treatment comes at a cost.There is a price to pay and that price is not trivial,” says Sydney oncologist Bogda Koczwara (pictured above)
Statistics indicate that more patients are surviving cancer. For example, US has more than 18 million survivors, Australia more than 1.2 million, and the numbers are rising across Europe and Asia as treatments improve.
Modern cancer therapies, far more potent than those available in the early 1990s, can be much more taxing on the heart than earlier treatments.
They include immune checkpoint inhibitors, which mobilize the body’s immune system against tumors; drugs that cut off a tumor’s blood supply; and agents that target the genetic or molecular causes of a cancer.
Life-Saving Cancer Drugs Are Leaving Survivors With Damaged Hearts
Doctors say the success of modern cancer care is creating a new challenge: managing treatment-related heart damage for survivors.
Immune therapies can trigger heart inflammation, a rare but potentially fatal complication that occurs in less than 1% of patients.
Blood-vessel-blocking drugs can increase blood pressure in as many as 40% of patients, while targeted therapies can disrupt molecular pathways essential for cardiac function.
Clinicians say the cardiac effects are becoming increasingly apparent — not only in acute cases that lead to hospitalization, but also in slower-moving damage that may not surface for years.
Mortality data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest the same trend.
Death certificates listing heart disease as the primary cause, yet also revealing a history of cancer, rose from about 4.7 per 100,000 in 2019 to 5.5 in 2024.
The increase is small, but even modest upticks can be early warning signs.
And because many of today’s cancer drugs are still relatively new, clinicians say it may take time for the data to reflect the full impact.
