Cancer
Treatment
&
Cardiac Failure Dr Warrick Bishop
A
health problem is not always what it seems. This is Jill’s story:
Jill at 71, was very sick when I met her. She was in hospital being treated for suspected pneumonia. A chest x-ray showed: • what could have been a lung infection • an enlarged heart, and
Evidence of a large heart suggested that it might not be an infection. An the heart)
demonstrated clearly that she was in cardiac failure (when the heart does not pump as it should). That’s when I was invited to become involved. I knew that Jill was in trouble: • her heart’s pumping capacity was low, yet DISCLAIMER
• her body exhibited fluid overload, putting further pressure on the heart. On speaking with her, I found that: • for about 12 months, her health had been progressively deteriorating, and • about 18 months earlier, a breast
• an accumulation of fluid in the chest.
echocardiogram (scan of
• her heart was racing, and
cancer diagnosis had resulted in surgery and chemotherapy. Cancer treatment & the heart: Chemotherapeutic medications, which kill or manage the cancer cells, can be toxic to the heart muscle. Cardiac failure can occur either acutely, at the time of the treatment, or sometime later. Factors include: • the type of cancer and, therefore, the agents used GREAT HEALTH GUIDE | 11
