Statins may protect the heart from damaging side-effects of early breast cancer treatment
New research from UHN s Peter Munk Cardiac Centre (PMCC) shows statins, commonly prescribed to lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke, may also protect the heart from damaging side-effects of early breast cancer treatment.
Published Jan. 6, 2021 in the
Journal of the American Heart Association, an observational study found women already taking statins and treated with either anthracyclines or trastuzumab were half as likely to be hospitalized or visit an Emergency Department for heart failure within five years after chemotherapy.
Our job is to protect the heart and ensure it has the greatest fighting chance to get through chemotherapy.
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December 22 - Three clinical trial platforms working together to test the effects of full doses of anticoagulants (blood thinners) in COVID-19 patients have paused enrollment for one group of patients. Among critically ill COVID-19 patients requiring intensive care unit (ICU) support, full dose anticoagulation drugs did not improve outcomes. Enrollment continues for moderately ill hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the trials.
As is normal for clinical trials, these trials are overseen by independent boards that routinely review the data and are composed of experts in ethics, biostatistics, clinical trials, and blood clotting disorders. Informed by the deliberations of these oversight boards, all of the trial sites have paused enrollment of the most critically ill hospitalized patients with COVID-19. A potential for harm in this sub-group could not be excluded. Increased bleeding is a known complication of full-dose anticoagulation. The trials are working urgently to u