How To Keep Your Heart Healthy When Undergoing Cancer Treatment

By Shella Khianey, MD

Cancer treatments can have life-saving benefits in people with cancer. However, they do come with the potential for serious complications that can affect your heart. These complications include high blood pressure, heart failure, heart rhythm disturbances (called arrhythmias), blood clots, stroke, and heart disease.

Thankfully these complications are less common and there is something cancer patients can do. The key to keeping your heart healthy during cancer treatments is to know your body, recognize the warning symptoms of a possible heart problem, and keep an open dialogue with your doctors.

As a first step, be aware of your body. Your body will go through a lot of changes during your cancer treatment. It is important to understand the common side effects of your treatment and recognize the red flag symptoms. Some of these red flag symptoms include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, chest discomfort, unexplained sweating.

Some heart complications to keep in mind

1. Heart Failure. Some chemotherapy agents, including some used for breast cancer treatment, can cause the heart to weaken. People taking these medications undergo frequent heart testing to monitor the heart pumping function before, during, and after treatment. Heart failure is a good example of a complication that has the potential to be reversed with early detection.

2. Heart Disease. People that receive radiation to the chest have a higher chance of developing coronary disease and heart attack. The reason is because as radiation penetrates the chest wall to attack cancer cells (for example in breast cancer or lymphoma), the radiation can also scatter to the heart and cause damage and plaque build-up in the arteries of the heart. The good news is this complication is becoming less common due to more advances and focused ways of delivering radiation treatment.

3. Arrhythmias. Some chemotherapy medications can cause abnormal heart rhythms. This typically is temporary and occurs during administration of the medication. If you feel lightheaded or faint, be sure to tell your chemotherapy nurse or doctor.

4. High blood pressure and medication interactions. Some chemotherapy medications can raise the blood pressure, which is why your blood pressure is monitored during chemotherapy. Additionally, almost every chemotherapy medication can interact with common heart medications, which is why cardiologists are often involved in your healthcare when you start chemotherapy.

The key thing to remember is many of these serious cardiac complications from cancer treatment can either be reversed or treated effectively with early detection.

So be aware of your body, be mindful of the warning signs for your heart, and keep in close communication with your health care team.