Cardio-oncology – monitoring the wear and tear of the heart in the fight against cancer

Cardio-oncology is the branch of medicine dedicated to the study, diagnosis and treatment of the negative effects that the fight against cancer can have on the cardiovascular system, more specifically on the heart. Chemotherapy, hormone treatments, radiotherapy and immunotherapy can overwhelm the heart and its systems, and it is important to monitor their condition and functioning in order to avoid heart complications.

Cancer treatments are a necessary evil. In order to fight a disease that has settled in our body, we are forced to resort to often aggressive treatments, which overload the body in various ways – chemical, physical and systemic. The body has to react, both to the cancer itself and to the treatments imposed on it, and one of the systems most evoked in this reaction is the cardiovascular system.

Cardio-oncology emerged to specifically study, diagnose and treat heart problems that may arise during the fight against cancer. A consultation of this specialty can help fight the morbidity and mortality that result from a prolonged effort of the heart in long-lasting treatments, and that can sometimes can become more serious than the oncological disease itself, if they are not monitored or diagnosed.

This consultation for cancer patients is provided by Joaquim Chaves Saúde, in its Clínica Cirúrgica de Carcavelos, as part of an integrated approach for cancer patients. It is open to all people who are cancer patients – even those who are treated in other units – and is in line with the Group's constant concern to seek solutions that can minimize the impact of the disease on patients' lives.