Abstract
Chemotherapy is a widely used treatment plan for various types of cancers. Chemotherapeutic drugs can increase survival rates and limit the recurrence of cancer; however, cancer survivors are more susceptible to cardiotoxicity (ie, toxicity of the heart) and subsequent cardiac complications.1 These cardiac complications are common among chemotherapy regimens and are the main limiting factor to providing optimal chemotherapy to patients. Cardiotoxicity most often presents as a decline in left ventricular ejection fraction, known as chemotherapy-induced cardiomyopathy.1’2 Predicting which patients will have cardiotoxic effects from therapy drugs is impossible; therefore, medical imaging can be used to detect and manage cardiac complications. Recommendations for monitoring left ventricular dysfunction typically are for damage from anthracyclines and trastuzumab and are limited for other cardiotoxic agents (eg, tyrosine kinase inhibitors and proteasome inhibitors).2
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