MDNews - Cleveland-Akron-Canton

photo © Smithberger photography, North CaNtoN CoVER FEATuRE Cardiologist Dr. Juan Carlos and oncologist Dr. g. thomas budd (inset photo) are Co-Directors of Cleveland Clinic's Cardio-oncology Center, where a multidisciplinary team of physicians work together to prevent or treat adverse cardiovascular effects in cancer patients resulting from certain treatments. Christine Cifranic, pa-C, mpaS, (shown above) is program coordinator for the Center. Juan Carlos Plana, MD by robert Janek T to t he Nation on the Status of Cancer published in Januar y 2013 shows that overa ll ca ncer death rates continued to decline in the United States for all of the most common cancers, including lung, colon, prostate and breast. Modern cancer therapies garner the credit for this. However, some treatments, such as certain chemotherapies for breast cancer, can have serious cardiovascular side effects. In fact, according to Juan Carlos Plana, MD, breast cancer survivors die more often from heart failure resulting from side effects of 8 H E A N N UA L R E P O R T | Cleveland/Akron/Canton MD News chemotherapy than from a recurrence of the breast cancer. Dr. Plana is a national leader in cardio-oncology — a new interdisciplinary field of medicine in which cardiologists and oncologists work together to avoid, prevent and treat adverse cardiovascular effects resulting from certain treatments in cancer patients. Board certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease a nd echoca rdiography, Dr. Pla na was recruited from The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in 2010 to develop Cleveland Clinic's Cardio-Oncology Center, which he ■ MDNEWS.COM ■ JULY-AUGUST 2013 now co-directs with oncologist G. Thomas Budd, MD. "Toxicity to the heart is a well known side effect of several chemotherapy agents. The most common agents associated with toxicity are Adriamycin and trastuzumab," says Dr. Plana, whose clinical research has mainly focused on breast cancer patients. "In terms of statistics, the rate of toxicity depends on age. In the young, the incidence of heart failure is about 16–20%. In adults older than 65 years of age, that rate doubles, being as frequent as 43%." Through years of research, inspired

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