Advancing the care of individuals with cancer through innovation & technology: Proceedings from the cardiology oncology innovation summit 2020 and 2021.

As cancer therapies increase in effectiveness and patients' life expectancies improve, balancing oncologic efficacy while reducing acute and long-term cardiovascular toxicities has become of paramount importance. To address this pressing need, the Cardiology Oncology Innovation Network (COIN) was formed to bring together domain experts with the overarching goal of collaboratively investigating, applying, and educating widely on various forms of innovation to improve the quality of life and cardiovascular healthcare of patients undergoing and surviving cancer therapies. The COIN mission pillars of innovation, collaboration, and education have been implemented with cross-collaboration among academic institutions, private and public establishments, and industry and technology companies.

Developing a Model for Cross-Institutional Educational Collaborations: The Chicago Cardio-Oncology Consortium (CCC) Experience.

• The CCCR represents a collaborative educational platform. • The forum can be reproduced to foster the exchange of practical and scientific knowledge/experience. • The created environment enhances clinical knowledge applied to the care of cardio-oncology patients.

Advances in Multimodality Imaging in Cardio-Oncology: JACC State-of-the-Art Review.

The population of patients with cancer is rapidly expanding, and the diagnosis and monitoring of cardiovascular complications greatly rely on imaging. Numerous advances in the field of cardio-oncology and imaging have occurred in recent years. This review presents updated and practical approaches for multimodality cardiovascular imaging in the cardio-oncology patient and provides recommendations for imaging to detect the myriad of adverse cardiovascular effects associated with antineoplastic therapy, such as cardiomyopathy, atherosclerosis, vascular toxicity, myocarditis, valve disease, and cardiac masses.

Novel imaging paradigms for characterization of cardiovascular toxicities associated with cancer therapy.

Since the 1970s, there have been many paradigm shifts in the detection of cardiotoxicity associated with cancer treatment. These have included movement away from late sequelae of cancer treatment such as heart failure or decline in ejection fraction toward earlier detection of subclinical toxicity using echocardiographically derived global longitudinal strain and high sensitivity troponin assays. In addition to this, cardiac MRI has had an expanding role in detecting cardiotoxicity due to its reproducibility in left ventricular ejection fraction measurements and tissue characterization.

Interconnected Clinical and Social Risk Factors in Breast Cancer and Heart Failure.

Breast cancer and heart failure share several known clinical cardiovascular risk factors, including age, obesity, glucose dysregulation, cholesterol dysregulation, hypertension, atrial fibrillation and inflammation. However, to fully comprehend the complex interplay between risk of breast cancer and heart failure, factors attributed to both biological and social determinants of health must be explored in risk-assessment. There are several social factors that impede implementation of prevention strategies and treatment for breast cancer and heart failure prevention, including socioeconomic status, neighborhood disadvantage, food insecurity, access to healthcare, and social isolation.

Imaging Cardiac Masses in Patients with Cancer.

Cardiac tumors are rare and the majority are from a primary source outside of the heart. Most are found, incidentally, with echocardiography but often additional cardiac imaging is needed to refine the differential diagnosis. For this purpose, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and to a lesser extent cardiac computed tomography (CT) or 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron-emission tomography/computed tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT) are useful imaging modalities to better characterize a cardiac tumor and determine the likelihood of a neoplastic versus non-neoplastic origin.

Can echocardiographic assessment of diastolic function be automated?

Echocardiographic evaluation of left ventricular diastolic function relies on a multi-pronged algorithm, which incorporates Doppler-based and volumetric parameters. Integration of clinical data in diastolic assessment is recommended, though not clearly outlined. We sought to develop an automated tool for diastolic function, compare its performance to human-generated diagnoses and identify the common sources of error.

Utility of transillumination and transparency renderings in 3D transthoracic imaging.

Transillumination (TI) is a new 3D rendering tool that uses a freely movable virtual light source to enhance depth, contours, and image detail. The TI model was recently modified to allow the operator adjust the degree of transparency of both cardiac and extra-cardiac structures. While the addition of transparency was shown to significantly improve quality in 3D transesophageal imaging, this has not yet been shown for transthoracic (TTE) imaging.

Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Predicting Outcomes Among Patients at Risk for Cardiac AL Amyloidosis.

Patients with systemic AL amyloidosis (AL) should be evaluated for cardiac amyloidosis (CA), as prognosis is strongly related to cardiac involvement. We assessed the characteristics of patients referred to cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) with suspected CA from a cancer center and determine predictors of mortality/heart failure hospitalizations (HFH). Forty-four consecutive patients referred for CMR with suspected CA were retrospectively included.

Echocardiographic predictors of new-onset atrial arrhythmias in patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Background: Atrial arrhythmias following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) have been associated with increased length of stay, need for intensive care, and increased mortality within one-year post-transplant. We sought to identify echocardiographic parameters that may predict the development of new atrial arrhythmias post-HSCT.

Methods: We performed a retrospective chart review of 753 consecutive patients who underwent HSCT at the University of Chicago from January 2015 through December 2019.

Perspectives on the COVID-19 pandemic impact on cardio-oncology: results from the COVID-19 International Collaborative Network survey.

Background: Re-allocation of resources during the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in delays in care delivery to patients with cardiovascular disease and cancer. The ability of health care providers to provide optimal care in this setting has not been formally evaluated.

Objectives: To assess the impact of COVID-19 resource re-allocation on scheduling, testing, elective procedures, telemedicine access, use of new COVID-19 therapies, and providers' opinions on healthcare policies among oncology and cardiology practitioners.

Cardiovascular Care of the Oncology Patient During COVID-19: An Expert Consensus Document From the ACC Cardio-Oncology and Imaging Councils.

In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the Cardio-Oncology and Imaging Councils of the American College of Cardiology offers recommendations to clinicians regarding the cardiovascular care of cardio-oncology patients in this expert consensus statement. Cardio-oncology patients-individuals with an active or prior cancer history and with or at risk of cardiovascular disease-are a rapidly growing population who are at increased risk of infection, and experiencing severe and/or lethal complications by COVID-19. Recommendations for optimizing screening and monitoring visits to detect cardiac dysfunction are discussed.

Improved Delineation of Cardiac Pathology Using a Novel Three-Dimensional Echocardiographic Tissue Transparency Tool.

Background: Accurate visualization of cardiac valves and lesions by three-dimensional (3D) echocardiography is integral for optimal guidance of structural procedures and appropriate selection of closure devices. A new 3D rendering tool known as transillumination (TI), which integrates a virtual light source into the data set, was recently reported to effectively enhance depth perception and orifice definition. We hypothesized that adding the ability to adjust transparency to this tool would result in improved visualization and delineation of anatomy and pathology and improved localization of regurgitant jets compared with TI without transparency and standard 3D rendering.

Point-of-Care Ultrasound.

Purpose Of The Review: Point-of-care ultrasound using small ultrasound devices has expanded beyond emergency and critical care medicine to many other subspecialties. Awareness of the strengths and limitations of the technology and knowledge of the appropriate settings and common indications for point-of-care ultrasound is important.

Recent Findings: Point-of-care ultrasound is widely embraced as an extension of the physical exam and is employed in acute care and medical education settings.

Risk factors for chemotherapy-related cardiac toxicity.

Purpose Of Review: The purpose of this review is to discuss the clinical and treatment-related factors that increase the risk of cardiotoxicity with anthracyclines and human epidermal growth factor 2 receptor inhibitors.

Recent Findings: Age and preexisting left ventricular dysfunction have been identified most consistently as being associated with the development of clinical heart failure or a worsening of left ventricular function with chemotherapy. Other cardiovascular conditions, including hypertension, diabetes, and coronary artery disease, are also associated with the risk of cardiotoxicity.

Parent-of-origin effects on quantitative phenotypes in a large Hutterite pedigree.

The impact of the parental origin of associated alleles in GWAS has been largely ignored. Yet sequence variants could affect traits differently depending on whether they are inherited from the mother or the father, as in imprinted regions, where identical inherited DNA sequences can have different effects based on the parental origin. To explore parent-of-origin effects (POEs), we studied 21 quantitative phenotypes in a large Hutterite pedigree to identify variants with single parent (maternal-only or paternal-only) effects, and then variants with opposite parental effects.

An insidious and deadly complication of mechanical chest compressions in a patient on anticoagulation and the subtle echocardiographic findings that enabled timely diagnosis.

Good-quality chest compressions improve outcomes in cardiac arrest. While manual chest compressions are suboptimal in this regard, the LUCAS device has been shown to improve the effectiveness of chest compressions during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The complication rate associated with mechanical CPR, however, has not been adequately studied.

Cardiovascular events during carfilzomib therapy for relapsed myeloma: practical management aspects from two case studies.

Unlabelled: Objectives and importance: Patients with multiple myeloma (MM) have an increased risk of cardiovascular comorbidities due to disease burden and treatment-related risk factors. Proteasome inhibitors, including bortezomib and carfilzomib, are effective and generally well tolerated anti-MM agents. However, cardiovascular-related toxicities have been reported with this class of agents, the mechanisms of which are not fully understood.

Transcatheter Therapy for a Large Mobile Right Atrial Thrombus and Massive Pulmonary Embolism.

A variety of interventional management approaches exist for the treatment of acute pulmonary embolism (PE). However, when PE is accompanied by residual right heart thrombus, the best therapeutic options are less clear. We describe a novel combined technique of percutaneous aspiration of unstable right atrial thrombus followed by ultrasound-directed thrombolysis of massive PE.