Researchers at UBC含羞草研究社檚 Okanagan campus have identified a new method of detecting cardio-vascular disease in women who are recovering from breast cancer.

Neil Eves, assoc. prof in the School of Health and Exercise Sciences, says this breakthrough is particularly relevant for detecting early-stage disease in those individuals at risk of developing heart complications due to the side effects of specific chemotherapy.

In their study, Eves says they were able to detect heart damage earlier resulting from chemotherapy. This was possible when they assessed the combined heart and blood vessel function of cancer survivors while they exercised. This heart abnormality was not evident when the patients were resting.

含羞草研究社淏reast cancer treatment is a success story, about 90 per cent of patients survive longer than five years,含羞草研究社� said Eves, senior author of the study that was published in this month含羞草研究社檚 issue of the Oncologist. 含羞草研究社淗owever, the same drugs that increase survival can also cause damage to the heart.含羞草研究社�

Breast cancer affects one out of nine women, 60 per cent of those receive chemotherapy. However, breast cancer survivors have an increased risk of death due to accelerated cardiovascular disease in the years following treatment.

含羞草研究社淭he sooner we diagnose heart damage, the earlier we can identify those individuals at higher risk of developing more serious heart conditions and we can take steps to potentially correct it,含羞草研究社� said Eves.

Eves and his colleagues compared the heart and blood vessels of female breast cancer patients, who were treated with a chemotherapy that contains the compound anthracycline, with healthy women of the same age. Neither of these groups had signs or complaints of heart complications while they were resting. However, heart abnormalities were detected in the breast cancer survivors, while their hearts were stressed during exercise.

含羞草研究社淧revious studies have only examined resting heart and blood vessel function during, or shortly following, treatment,含羞草研究社� said Eves含羞草研究社� former graduate student and study co-author, Graeme Koelwyn. 含羞草研究社淥urs is the first study to evaluate the combined heart and blood vessel function in patients up to 10 years post-treatment during exercise.含羞草研究社�

The research was supported by the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation and the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research.