Findings from a large database suggest that trastuzumab is associated with higher rates of HF or cardiomyopathy in clinical practice than it was in clinical trials.
The anthracyclines, often used in adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer, are known to cause potentially permanent left ventricular systolic dysfunction. Newer breast cancer therapies, including the monoclonal antibody trastuzumab, have also been implicated in incident cardiomyopathy. The clinical trials of trastuzumab that exposed this adverse effect were generally conducted in younger women and may substantially underestimate the risk in older women, who constitute a sizeable proportion of breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy.
Investigators used the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Medicare database to assemble a cohort of 45,537 women aged 67 to 94 (mean age, 76) with early-stage breast cancer and no recorded…
Reviewing Author
DisclosuresConsultant/Advisory BoardBristol Myers Squibb; CPC Clinical Research
Grant/Research SupportNational Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Editorial BoardsUpToDate; American College of Cardiology Self-Assessment Program (SAP)
Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesAmerican College of Cardiology (Chair, Innovations Committee)
DisclosuresConsultant/Advisory BoardBristol Myers Squibb; CPC Clinical Research
Grant/Research SupportNational Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Editorial BoardsUpToDate; American College of Cardiology Self-Assessment Program (SAP)
Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesAmerican College of Cardiology (Chair, Innovations Committee)