Prevention and Treatment of cardiac toxicity:  What damages the Heart muscles?

Prevention and Treatment of cardiac toxicity begins with changing life style in all dimensions.

While addressing the topic “Damaging the heart muscle using Toxins” in our last article, we answered some questions touching on the cardiac toxicity including what is cardiac toxicity, what causes cardiac toxicity, how is cardiac toxicity diagnosed and what are the symptoms of cardiac toxicity? Nonetheless what we did not address is how to prevent this problem from surfacing in our lives. We were also not able to address issue of treatment should this problem occur in one’s life. This that we were not able to address is what doctor Dalal Akoury is going to help us understand their effects in the effort of trying to be safe from all the attacks of cardiac toxicity. It is important to note that prevention and treatment of cardiac toxicity like any other health condition is the beginning on solving the problem in it’s entirely.

If we could succeed in the prevention aspect of it, then life would be very healthy and comfortable. But with that entire story telling heart problems can be prevented by changing the quantity of drug administered (dose) to the patient at a time, method of administration and type of anthracycline. Besides that, in the process of making effort in trying to find workable solutions to this problem, a lot of special medications which are very effective in the prevention of the damages caused from doxorubicin have been developed says doctor Akoury. Now let us consider these treatment options one by one as we progress into the discussion:

Dosage: In the journey of prevention and treatment of cardiac toxicity a lot will have to be done. However, one of the main ways to prevent cardiac toxicity is to limit the cumulative dose of drugs that damage the heart, and more so the anthracyclines. It is important to note that there is a defined amount of doxorubicin that can be given with a lesser risk of complications, like for instance if your total dose of doxorubicin is less than 550mg/m², you may just have about 1% of experiencing cardiac toxicity. On the other hand when your total dose of doxorubicin is say between 560mg/m² and 1155mg/m², your risk is likely to go up to 30%.

Besides that experts have also established that individual patients will tolerate differently the medication of doxorubicin. Like for example some patients may receive high doses of doxorubicin without ever developing heart damage while some have problems at relatively low doses of even less than 550mg/m² total dose. These variances are all applicable when making effort in preventing the prevention and treatment of cardiac toxicity.

Method of administration: It has been noted in certain cases that there is some supporting evidence that the method of drug administration may affect the risk of cardiac toxicity. Rapid administration of drugs for instance may results in high blood levels, which is likely to cause more heart damage than if the same quantity of drugs given over or spread over a longer period of time. In other words giving smaller doses of drug more frequently can be a perfect prevention and Treatment of cardiac toxicity since it will be instrumental in decreasing the toxicity compared to large doses of drugs at longer intervals.

Liposomal anthracyclines: The risk of cardiac toxicity from anthracyclines has been reduced by making them in a different way. Liposomal anthracyclines have been encapsulated, or enclosed in a liposome, a tiny globule of fat. Because of it capability to hide the drug in fat, it is able to stay in the body much longer because the immune system doesn’t target it for elimination and the liver doesn’t break it down as quickly either. The currently ongoing studies indicate that the risk of heart problems is considerably lower with liposomal doxorubicin formulations than with conventional doxorubicin. Types of liposomal anthracyclines include:

• Liposomal daunorubicin (DaunoXome®)
• Pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (Doxil®)

Pegylated liposomal doxorubicin has been studied most extensively and has demonstrated the most significant reductions in heart problems. Pegylated liposomal doxorubicin has shown a similar anti-cancer effect to doxorubicin, but with less cardiac toxicity.

Dexrazoxane (Zinecard®): This drug has been shown to prevent or reduce the severity of heart damage caused by doxorubicin. Dexrazoxane is thought to protect the heart muscle by blocking the formation of oxygen free radicals. One of the ways that radiation and chemotherapy drugs damage cells is by forming free radicals. Free radicals are unstable molecules which are formed during many normal cellular processes that involve oxygen, such as burning fuel for energy. They are also formed from exposure to elements in the environment, like tobacco smoke, radiation and chemotherapy drugs.

Prevention and Treatment of cardiac toxicity:  How is cardiac toxicity treated?

When a disease has invaded the body, treatment becomes necessary. At this point we can’t talk of prevention since we are already affected. In the past cardiac toxicity used to be treated by stopping or reducing the dose of the medication that is deemed to be causing damage to your heart. After that, the treatment of cardiac toxicity was changed and it was now done in the same way just like it is done in other causes of heart failures. Therefore your doctor may prescribe medications to thin your blood and make it easier for your heart to move and medications that help your heart beat more efficiently. The following are some of the medications that your doctor is likely to prescribe for you.

Diuretics: Damage to your heart may cause you to retain water and have swelling in your ankles. A prescription of a diuretic to increase the amount of water you excrete in the urine may become necessary. Like for instance the use of diuretic is furosemide (Lasix®) could be applicable.

Digitalis drugs: Digitalis refers to a whole group of drugs that make the heart beat more efficiently and increase the amount of blood that is pumped to the body. This can also be efficient in offering the much needed solution.

ACE inhibitors: These drugs also make it easier for your heart to pump blood to the body by opening your arteries and lowering your blood pressure. This improves blood flow to your kidneys, which do not function properly with low blood flow. Some examples of ACE inhibitors include benazepril (Lotensin®), enalapril (Vasotec®) and fosinopril (Monopril®).

Beta-blockers: These medications slow down your heart rate and may be used if you have a myocardial infarction (heart attack.) Examples are: metoprolol (Lopressor^®), propranolol (Inderal^®) and atenolol (Tenormin^®). This article may be loaded with heavy medical terminologies and therefore if there is anything you need to be clarified, you can schedule for an appointment with doctor Dalal Akoury today for direction.

Prevention and Treatment of cardiac toxicity:  What damages the Heart muscles?