Echocardiographic Evaluation Of Right Ventricular Function For The Early Detection Of Anthracycline-Induced Cardiotoxicity

Cardiovascular diseases and cancer are the leading causes of death. Currently, there is an important progress in oncology regarding early diagnosis and its corresponding treatment, as well as the improvement of survival and quality of life due to the use of combined antineoplastic treatments. At the same time, the cardiological adverse effects of these treatments have been increased, creating a new cohort of patients who will experience sufficient survival to develop the cardiac complications derived from oncological treatment.This clinical background makes the cardiotoxicity derived from oncologic treatment (chemotherapy and radiotherapy) become one of its main complications, so a multidisciplinary response that associates the knowledge of oncologists and internists with that of cardiologists will be increasingly necessary for the best management of a chronic population in constant growth.Ultrasonography has been validated as the diagnostic method that provides greater accuracy in the calculation of ejection fraction, being the method of choice for the initial evaluation and follow-up of patients treated oncologically. The early detection of cardiovascular alterations in patients treated with chemotherapy has the benefit of obtaining alternate therapies, thereby decreasing the incidence of cardiotoxicity and its associated morbidity and mortality.