Purpose
As cancer treatments and survival outcomes are improving, there is a greater focus on survivorship, prevention and management of late toxicity
Among cancer survivors alive five years after diagnosis, cardiovascular disease related deaths are shown to exceed cancer related deaths, from 13 years after diagnosis
Radiation therapy is an integral component of cancer treatment, but radiation dose to the heart is associated with late cardiac toxicity. Accelerated atherosclerosis is an important mechanism in the development of radiation induced cardiac disease.
Future risk of cardiac disease...
Methods and materials
This is an ongoing national prospective observational study
Patients commencing radiotherapy, who will have a planning thoracic CT-scan as part of standard of care, are invited to participate
Using an automated workflow, participant's heart contour is scanned for calcium densities
In those patients with caclification detected, CAC is manually scored by a remote Cardiologist
Those identified as high risk (CAC>0) are referred to a CardioOncology clinic
Feasibility, determined by adherence to the recommended CardioOncology pathway, is being assessed after 3 months
Health-related QoL and anxiety...
Results
101 patients have been enrolled and are at various stages of the study
3 patients failed screening and have been removed from the dataset
[Fig 3]
[Fig 2]
100% of planning CT scans had CAC successfully scored
32%CAC score >0
96%attended CardioOncology appointment
28%have completed three month follow-up
Conclusion
Measuring CAC from routine radiotherapy planning CT scans appears feasible to incorporate into standard clinical practice
The pathway has identified patients at increased cardiac risk, who may not have been detected otherwise
Patients had excellent adherence to the recommended CardioOncology follow-up
Following the completion of this trial, further studies are required to determine the effectiveness of this pathway on longer-term cardiovascular endpoints
References
Rutqvist LE, Johansson H. Mortality by laterality of the primary tumour among 55,000 breast cancer patients from the Swedish Cancer Registry. Br J Cancer. 1990;61(6):866-8.
Darby SC, Ewertz M, McGale P, Bennet AM, Blom-Goldman U, Bronnum D, et al. Risk of ischemic heart disease in women after radiotherapy for breast cancer. N Engl J Med. 2013;368(11):987-98.
Silverman MG, Blaha MJ, Krumholz HM, Budoff MJ, Blankstein R, Sibley CT, et al. Impact of coronary artery calcium on coronary heart disease events in individuals at the extremes...