Do breast cancer meds lead to heart disease?

• Position: Oncology - Brief article

Giving trastuzumab and anthracyclines at the same time is effective at treating HER-2-positive breast cancer, but there is concern that this combination can be associated with an increased risk of cardiac toxicity. Research from Aman Buzdar, professor and vice president of clinical research at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, and colleagues in the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology shows these agents do not need to be given concurrently to achieve a high rate of complete pathological remission.

The findings investigated the timing of trastuzumab administration with anthracydine and taxane chemotherapy. "In a previous study, concurrent administration of trastuzumab with chemotherapy, including anthracyclines, demonstrated high pathologic complete response rates in breast cancer patients with HER-2-positive disease," Buzdar explains.

"In the current trial, we examined whether concurrent administration of anthracyclines with trastuzumab was necessary to achieve the high pathologic response rates or whether these drugs could be given...