Cardio-oncology: The future is now!

Every year more than 20 million people worldwide and 60 000 in Portugal are diagnosed with cancer. 1 Outstanding recent advances in cancer treatment have led to an incredible increase in survival, with mortality rates persistently declining.However, not everything is perfect: the increase in survival is associated with higher cardiovascular risk and a greater number of comorbidities, including cardiovascular ones.In fact, heart disease and cancer are closely linked: they are currently the two most common causes of mortality in the developed world, and they share multiple risk factors (including age, smoking, hypertension, obesity and sedentarism).On the other hand, the presence of heart disease can condition or contra-indicate the choice of cancer treatment.Also, most cancer therapies are associated with adverse cardiovascular effects (including exacerbation of previous disease) and cardiotoxicity.Fortunately, in most cases, when detected and addressed early, cardiotoxicity is reversible.Still, it is one of the principal reasons to withhold cancer therapy and, in some cases, it can lead to irreversible lesions.The multiplicity of cancer therapies currently used can lead to a multiplicity of cardiotoxicity forms, that go beyond left ventricle dysfunction and heart failure (the classic cardio-oncologic presentation), and include arrhythmic or thrombotic events, valvular, and coronary disease.It is in this particular clinical and epidemiologic setting that cardio-oncology (the new kid on the block) can see its place being sedimented.It is a new cardiology subspeciality that aims to improve patient care before, during and after