ACC Study Examines CHF in Women with Prior Cardiotoxicity

A board-certified cardiologist with more than 20 years of experience, John M. Kennedy, MD, serves as the medical director of a multidisciplinary team at Kindred Health Systems in Los Angeles. Actively engaged in his profession, John M. Kennedy, MD, is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology (ACC).

Recent research highlighted in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology shows that young women who have undergone cancer treatments such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy in the thorax area that are associated with a risk of damaging the hear are at a greater risk of developing congestive heart failure (CHF) while they are pregnant or afterward. Researchers looked at data from 78 women who have survived cancer after having received such treatments to determine if there was any correlation to negative heart outcomes either in response to becoming pregnant or postpregnancy.

In examining the data, researchers found a total of 55 patients who had been exposed to anthracycline chemotherapy, while the others were treated with non-anthracycline chemotherapy or had undergone radiation therapy. Of those who received anthracycline treatment, 13 had been diagnosed with cardiotoxicity, and 31 percent of them developed CHF either while they were pregnant or shortly after giving birth.