ASNC Announces New Imaging Guideline for the Management of Cardiac Complications with Cancer Therapy Patients

• By: admin
• On: 06/27/2016 10:23:32
• In: Guidelines & Quality

There is a growing awareness concerning the importance of recognizing the cardiovascular implications of cancer therapy, which has led to the development of a new field, Cardio-Oncology.  This field focuses on diagnosing and treating these complications but also preventing them. ASNC recognizes the importance of providing the field with specialized knowledge from oncology to cardiology, including the understanding of evaluation and management of cardiovascular complications from cancer and its therapy. This is true not only for established cancer therapies, such as anthracyclines, that have well established cardiovascular toxicities, but also for the new targeted therapies that can have “off target” effects in the heart and vessels. In addition, the document is meant to provide useful general information concerning the cardiovascular complications of cancer and cancer therapy, as well as established recommendations for monitoring of specific cardiotoxic therapies. 

“The ASNC Cardio-Oncology Informational Statement is designed to provide practitioners with a guide to how nuclear cardiology can be used in the cardiovascular care of individuals with cancer,” says Dr. Raymond Russell, MD, PhD, FASNC, lead author of the guideline. “In addition, this paper is meant to be a general cardio-oncology reference – one convenient place to find specific information concerning the cardiovascular toxicities of the various cancer therapies.”
In the best interest of patient care and advancing the field of cardio-oncology, it is critical that technique-specific, evidence-based guidelines be established to help improve and standardize the use of all noninvasive cardiac testing and the ensuing treatment decisions to optimize the cardiovascular health and care of patients with cancer.
For more information, go to www.asnc.org/guidelinesandstandards.