Breast Cancer Therapy Risk of fatal heart disease does not appear to be increased

Lethal heart disease: lower risk than expected for breast cancer patients

Recently, health experts from the US reported that certain breast cancer treatments may increase the risk of heart disease. However, German researchers have now found in a study that the risk for breast cancer patients to die from radiotherapy or chemotherapy for heart disease is no greater than for the average population.

Most common cancer in women

Breast cancer, also called breast cancer, is the most common malignant tumor in women. In Germany alone, up to 70,000 new cases are counted each year. Many patients have to undergo chemotherapy with adverse side effects. But for a long time, health experts have pointed out that breast cancer does not always make sense. In addition, there are indications that this form of treatment and radiotherapy are associated with an increased heart risk. However, scientists of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg now show in a study that the risk of breast cancer patients dying after radiotherapy or chemotherapy of heart disease is no greater than that of the average population.

Scientific research has provided evidence that radiation and chemotherapy in breast cancer patients increase the risk of heart disease. However, this risk has not been confirmed in a recent study. (Image: auremar / fotolia.com)

Heart disease after breast cancer therapy

Improved early detection and more effective therapies have significantly reduced the risk of death from breast cancer.

"However, some clinical studies indicate that both chemotherapy and radiotherapy are associated with the risk of suffering from heart disease as a result of treatment," said Hermann Brenner of the DKFZ in a statement.

However, little was known about the actual risks of these side-effect heart diseases.

But for some patients, the risk of dying long-term due to the side effect after overcoming treatment could even be greater than the cancer itself.

The current study from the DKFZ is now able to dispel this concern.

No increased risk detected

Brenner's team has evaluated the data of approximately 350,000 patients from US cancer registries. The women suffered from breast cancer in the years 2000 to 2011 and were then treated with radiotherapy or chemotherapy.

The scientists compared the data of the patients with data on the average female population in the United States and came to the clear conclusion:

The risk of dying of heart disease in the long term is no greater after breast cancer treatment than in the average female population. This applies to chemotherapy as well as to radiation.

Also, special treatments for the subset of so-called HER2-positive patients are not associated with a higher risk of death from heart disease.

Good news for patients

"We were surprised by this result at first," says Janick Weberpals, first author of the study. "But we expect our research to paint a more realistic picture of the actual situation of the treatment than is the case in clinical trials."

For clinical studies, groups of subjects are put together according to specific criteria. However, the evaluation of cancer registries takes into account all breast cancer patients included in it.

In part, the effect can probably be attributed to good risk management in the clinics, for example through special cardio-oncological units.

The individual risk of a patient undergoing heart disease due to breast cancer treatment is already taken into account in the selection of the appropriate therapy.

Close monitoring during the course of treatment also makes it possible to detect side effects on the heart at an early stage, to adjust the oncological therapy accordingly and to treat potential heart disease quickly.

"We regard the result of our study as very positive for the treatment of breast cancer," summarizes Brenner. It shows that the benefit-risk balance is right for most patients.

"In particular, it is very good news for the large number of affected patients that they no longer have to worry about deadly heart disease in good medical care and after surviving breast cancer, as women of the same age without breast cancer." (Ad)