Cardiotoxicity is the occurrence of heart dysfunction as electric or
muscle damage, resulting in heart toxicity. The heart becomes weaker and is not as efficient in pumping blood. Cardiotoxicity may be caused by
chemotherapy
Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs ( chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemother ...
(a usual example is the class of
anthracyclines
Anthracyclines are a class of drugs used in cancer chemotherapy that are extracted from ''Streptomyces'' bacterium. These compounds are used to treat many cancers, including leukemias, lymphomas, breast, stomach, uterine, ovarian, bladder ca ...
)
treatment and/or radiotherapy; complications from
anorexia nervosa
Anorexia nervosa, often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by low weight, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin. ''Anorexia'' is a term of Gre ...
; adverse effects of
heavy metals
upright=1.2, Crystals of osmium, a heavy metal nearly twice as dense as lead">lead.html" ;"title="osmium, a heavy metal nearly twice as dense as lead">osmium, a heavy metal nearly twice as dense as lead
Heavy metals are generally defined as ...
intake; the long-term abuse of or ingestion at high doses of certain strong
stimulants such as
cocaine; or an incorrectly administered drug such as
bupivacaine
Bupivacaine, marketed under the brand name Marcaine among others, is a medication used to decrease feeling in a specific area. In nerve blocks, it is injected around a nerve that supplies the area, or into the spinal canal's epidural space. It ...
.
One of the ways to detect cardiotoxicity at early stages when there is a subclinical dysfunction is by measuring changes in
regional function of the heart
The assessment of regional function of the heart is a powerful tool for early detection of deterioration in certain parts of the heart wall before a cardiac arrest is diagnosed. One of the most accurate measures of changes in regional function is ...
using strains.
See also
*
Cardiotoxin III
Cardiotoxin III (CTX III, also known as cytotoxin 3) is a sixty amino-acid polypeptide toxin from the Taiwan Cobra Naja atra. It is an example of a group of snake cardio/ cytotoxins (), which are made up of shorter snake venom three-finger toxin ...
*
Batrachotoxin
*
Heart failure
*
Drug interaction
References
Heart diseases
Toxins by organ system affected
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