Cardiotoxicidad Asociada a Quimioterapia

Abstract

Introduction: Chemotherapy is essentially based on using drugs to eliminate cancer cells. One of the harmful effects of such treatment is the so-called chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity. Cardiotoxicity is the myocardial affection caused by exposure to chemotherapeutic agents. Objective: To describe chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity by reviewing scientific articles to have a concise concept. Methodology: This research was conducted through a bibliographic review; the ScienceDirect, PubMed, and Elsevier databases were used to search for articles. keywords for these were determined in English and Spanish, and Boolean operators such as "AND" and "OR" were utilized. This study was conducted exclusively with scientific articles subject to eligibility criteria, such as articles that have the main heart diseases caused by chemotherapy treatment, articles that mention the main drugs that cause cardiotoxicity and those that relate cardiotoxicity to chemotherapy treatment. Results: The main chemotherapeutic agents causing cardiotoxicity were anthracyclines, trastuzumab, cyclophosphamide, and mitomycin; the primary risk factors were cumulative doses and radiotherapy. Cardiotoxicity is high in the patients studied, reaching up to 42% incidence. Conclusions: Prevention of risk factors, chemotherapy-related heart failure, quality of life, and patient survival, should be guidelines to be followed in future cardioncological research, taking into account that scientific advances require further studies to understand the cardiotoxicity mechanisms.