Damaging the heart muscle using Toxins: Cardiac Toxicity

Unless we expand our knowledge about the dangers of diseases around us, we are likely to sink with them. There are very many health conditions affecting people from all walks of life and the sooner we pool together to fight them from a common front the better for everyone. Most of these diseases could be avoided if we chose to live a healthy lifestyle. What we eat and how we live our lives contributes greatly to the risks of some of these conditions. For instance damaging the heart using toxins could be prevented if we eat the right organic foods and live an active life. You may be wondering how best you can protect yourself and your children from the effects of such health problems. If this describes you then you are at the right place and a team of experts from AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under the able leadership of doctor Dalal Akoury will be helping us discuss the real issues and how to go about them.

Doctor Akoury says that chemotherapy drugs are toxins in themselves and can cause injury to your heart. This is what is referred to us as cardiac toxicity. These injuries to the heart will incapacitate the heart and render it in effective. When this happens the heart will be unable to pump enough blood to supply the body with essential oxygen and nutrients. Even though several chemotherapy drugs may cause cardiac toxicity, the most common cause of cardiac toxicity in cancer patients is treatment with chemotherapy drugs known as anthraxcyclines. Doxorubicin (Adriamycin®) is a frequently prescribed anthraxcyclines. Although the best way to currently prevent cardiac toxicity from anthraxcyclines is to limit the amount of anthraxcyclines administered, forms of less toxic anthraxcyclines drugs and drugs that may relieve side effects are being developed to supplement the on what is already available. As we progress into the discussion, doctor Akoury is going to respond to some of the questions that are being raised by many patients from time to time. The questions include:

• What is cardiac toxicity?
• What causes cardiac toxicity?
• How is cardiac toxicity diagnosed?
• What are the symptoms of cardiac toxicity?
• How can cardiac toxicity be prevented?
• How is cardiac toxicity treated?

Damaging the heart muscle using Toxins: What is cardiac toxicity?

Damage to the heart muscle by a toxin is called cardiac toxicity she says. Cardiac toxicity may cause arrhythmias which are changes in heart rhythm or it can develop into heart failure. Remember that when we talk heart failure it does not mean that your heart has stopped or is about to stop. It simply means that the heart muscle cannot pump with enough force to supply the body with blood containing essential oxygen and nutrients. Heart failure develops over time as the pumping action of the heart grows weaker.

Damaging the heart muscle using Toxins: What causes cardiac toxicity?

There are many possible causes of cardiac toxicity. In cancer patients, cardiac toxicity may be caused by radiation to the chest and some chemotherapy drugs. One of the commonly known causes of this problem is the chemotherapy drug doxorubicin (Adriamycin®). This drug is also known as an anthracycline. It is often used in the treatment of leukemia lymphoma, multiple and breast cancer. Cancer being what it is in human life is very paining emotionally. A lot is being done for its proper medication to be established. So far what is in use are just like any other medications has some side effects to the patients. Most of those drugs side effects are linked to abnormalities in the heart rate commonly known as rhythm. Examples of those medications include:

• Gemtuzumab ozogamicin (Mylotarg®)
• Idarubicin (Idamycin®)
• Melphalan (Alkeran®)
• Paclitaxel (Taxol®)
• Tretinoin (Vesanoid®)

Damaging the heart muscle using Toxins: How is cardiac toxicity diagnosed?

For cardiac toxicity to be effectively diagnosed a number of tests must be done studied and appropriate result delivered. The following are some of the steps that your doctor is likely to take you through:

Heart sounds: Your doctor will listen for abnormal heart sounds with a stethoscope. Any extra sound other than the normal “lub-dub” is called a murmur. If this murmur is present, then that may be an indicator that some damage is in the offing in your heart.

Chest X-ray: An x-ray provides a one-dimensional picture of your heart and lungs. An enlarged heart on a chest x-ray may indicate that the heart muscle is damaged.

Electrocardiogram (ECG): An ECG machine records the electrical activity of your heart. Ordinarily this is used to measure the rate and regularity of your heartbeat.

Echocardiogram: This test uses sound waves to create a picture of the heart. It shows how well the heart is filling with blood and pumping it to the rest of the body. An echocardiogram is one of the most useful tests for diagnosing heart failure.

Multi Gated Acquisition (MUGA) scan: This procedure takes specialized pictures of the heart after a radioactive substance is injected into a vein. The contraction and relaxation of the heart and blood supply to the heart can be visualized from the pictures.

Damaging the heart muscle using Toxins: The symptoms of cardiac toxicity?

This must be taken seriously because cardiac toxicity is a very serious condition. Patients must be well informed of the signs and symptoms and when they spot any, then an immediate appointment with the doctor must be soughed. The following are some of the signs to watch out for:

• Fatigue
• Shortness of breath on exertion, worsening to shortness of breath at rest
• Discomfort lying on your back
• Swelling of the ankles

The problem of cardiac toxicity is not anything that you would even wish to happen to your worse enemies. Our objective at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center is to change lives and cause people to live healthy all the days of their lives. The magnitude of this condition is very devastating ant the only best way of handing it is by prevention. We need to do all it takes to keep distance from cardiac toxicity. In our next article doctor Dalal Akoury is going to take us through the prevention and treatment of this condition should it occur in your life? In the meantime you may want to schedule for an appointment with her for any concern you may be having in your health and she will be of great help to you and your loved ones

Damaging the heart muscle using Toxins: Cardiac Toxicity