Cancer and cardiovascular disease are the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the U.S., and they share common risk factors which predispose patients to both cancer and cardiac disease. The last decade has seen an explosion of effective cancer treatments with 17,000,000 Americans currently living as cancer survivors. However, many cancer treatments have a deleterious effect on cardiac health and clinicians need to be able to recognize and manage the cardiovascular complications of their patients current or prior cancer therapy.

Laura Zitella; MS, RN, ACNP-BC, AOCN; Nurse Practitioner and Associate Clinical Professor, Hematology/Oncology, University of California San Francisco; San Francisco CA