The Cooper Heart Institute has announced the creation of the Cooper Women’s Heart Program, a specialized set of services for unique issues related to women and cardiovascular disease. Among the featured services is a program dedicated to chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity, which often occurs in women who are being treated for breast cancer.
Chemotherapy agents vary in their frequency of cardiac side-effects. Those at highest risk are patients with a history of heart disease prior to chemotherapy. Consultations are recommended for patients who experience changes in cardiac function during chemotherapy, and those who develop cardiac symptoms.
The goal of the new program is early identification and monitoring of at risk patients, in order to begin medical treatment as soon as cardiac abnormalities are detected. Cardiology consultations for patients undergoing chemotherapy are not limited to female patients, though cardiomyopathy secondary to breast cancer agents are common.
“There is increasing evidence that in many patients, chemotherapy induced left ventricular dysfunction can be reversed,” says Fredric Ginsberg, MD, Director of the Cooper Heart Failure Program.
To refer a patient for consultation, please call: 856-342-2034.