Effects of Identifying and Treating Early, Subclinical Cardiotoxicity on the Long-Term Incidence of Clinical Cardiotoxicity in Women With Breast Cancer, A Prospective Randomized Study: The Cardio-Oncology Breast Cancer Study (COBC)

Rationale for the study:

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among Swedish women, accounting for a third of all cancer cases among females. The breast cancer incidence has increased from 2596 to more than 8000 breast cancer diagnosis 2011. During the past 40 years, the age-adjusted incidence has doubled. Early adjuvant therapy reduces the risk of dying with about 50%. (Early adjuvant therapies; chemotherapy, antibodies, endocrine therapy, and radiotherapy). Treatment advances have improved survival rates, but treatment-related cardiotoxicity (CT) remains a substantial problem.

In general, earlier treatment of cardiotoxicity offers the best chances of preventing or ameliorating clinical cardiotoxicity. Risk factors should be modified or reduced by treating elevated blood pressure, normalizing lipids, encouraging weight reduction and smoking cessation. Patient-tailored therapy is now possible, especially given the availability of different chemotherapy regimens, safer anthracycline analogs such as liposomal doxorubicin, and cardioprotective medications such as angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE)-inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, and b-blockers. It is now suggested that new cardiac biomarkers and ultrasound techniques can detect cardiotoxicity in its early, subclinical, stages. The investigators hypothesized that biomarkers can be used to detect subclinical cardiotoxicity and that detecting early signs of cardiotoxicity might reduce the number, time-to-onset, and severity of cardiotoxic events.

In present proposal the investigators aim in a randomized study to compare primary cardiac preventive measurements versus standard care.

Objectives of the trial: