How heart disease and breast cancer connect 

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[Text on screen: The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
Laxmi Mehta, MD
Cardiologist]

Laxmi Mehta, MD: We're learning more about heart disease and cancer, and there is a connection between the two diseases. When it comes to women's health, heart disease is the number one killer of women, but if you ask the general population, most women think that breast cancer is the number one killer, and that's not the case.

An older woman who survived from breast cancer, they're more likely to die of other causes than the breast cancer itself. So if they've survived breast cancer, what's the most likely cause of death? It's going to be a heart disease. So that's why we really need to make sure that we ensure that women have good care of their heart before, during, and after treatment of breast cancer.

So if you have breast cancer or if you have heart disease, we say no smoking, making sure you're following an adequate diet, making sure that you're exercising. Breast cancer is a devastating disease, and it does require toxic treatments to kill the cancer, but sometimes it can have side effects on the heart.

For instance, some of the treatments can result in heart failure or weakening of the heart muscle. Sometimes they can develop an abnormal rhythms of the heart, heart valve issues, or even coronary artery disease or blockages that develop in the heart.

Not every female will get it from their treatments, but the oncologists work closely with the cardiologists on understanding these risks and those treatments that are potentially, have the effect of inducing any of these heart abnormalities.

At Ohio State, we have a cardio-oncology program where our cardiologists work closely with their oncologists on treating patients who develop any of these side effects from their cancer treatment. But we're also working on ways to prevent heart disease in these patients, how to best treat these patients should they develop heart disease side effects from their treatment.

So it's important to take care of your heart before, during, and after treatment, and if you have any signs or symptoms of potential heart disease, talking to your oncologist, or your primary care physician, or your cardiologist is imperative.

[Text on screen: The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center]

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