Fighting cancer today offers more hope than ever, with many patients expected to resume normal, healthy lives. But treatments like chemotherapy still pose risks to heart health.
That's what makes CHI Memorial's Cardiac Oncology program so special and important.
In partnership with the Chattanooga Heart Institute, Memorial offers one of the few specialized cardio oncology programs in the Southeast, and is the only regional hospital equipped with advanced imaging modalities.
The program launched in March 2024, and leaders expect to treat twice as many patients in 2024 compared to 2023.
The key to success: collaboration.
"In this program, there's not really one owner," says Amber Taylor, amyloidosis and cardio oncologist technical coordinator. "It has to be the whole team working together -- oncologists, cardiologists, monographers, EKG technicians, lab techs. We can identify when issues are happening. We will have less fallout and ultimately, we are likely to avoid heart disease."
What is cardio oncology and what are doctors looking for?
Dr. Henry Cheng, cardiologist: Cardio oncology is a sub-specialty within cardiology in which we're monitoring patients undergoing chemotherapy for signs of toxicity. Our main focus is on prevention, or detection in early stages.
Patient survival with cancer is improving every year, but we're finding some patients are left with permanent heart failure. So they are cured of cancer, but they are left with cardio toxicity. Our goal is to stop that from happening, so our patients can have a good quality of life after being cured of cancer.
Can you explain the benefits of exercise for cancer patients and how it impacts their overall well-being during treatment?
Sadie Engelken, clinical exercise physiologist and cancer exercise specialist: We are all aware of the changes that are going to happen with a cancer diagnosis and treatments -- that it often makes people sick. We know that patients tend to have lower energy, body weight changes, people have trouble sleeping. Chemotherapy affects all systems of body, not just the area that has cancer.
But what's amazing about exercise is that it reaches all the systems -- blood, heart rate, breathing, muscles. We know that when people exercise, they experience less fatigue, and often function better in their daily lives.
As much as I like to see positive changes in the gym, it's even more rewarding to hear about improvements outside the gym -- patients sleeping better, or getting back to gardening, or playing with their grandchildren. Exercise is about the physical, but is also psycho social, and helps a great deal with mental health.
At Memorial, our patients are able to exercise in a safe setting. They don't have to risk being in a gym where they may not know how to operate the equipment or risk infection. Here, they are around people sharing similar experiences.
How does Memorial's program help monitor and manage the side effects of chemotherapy?
Dr. Brooke Daniel, oncologist: In my work, I take care of mostly breast cancer patients, who are typically healthy women that develop cancer, but are usually able to move on with their lives after treatment. But it's important to be mindful that the drugs we use for chemotherapy can cause harm. We need to pay close attention to monitoring for change, so we can address that quickly.
Memorial's program allows us to follow our patients closely, and be aggressive in treating their curable cancer. There are more and more drugs being introduced to treat various forms of cancer, but many of these new medications can have adverse effects on the heart. This program enables us to closely monitor patients, allowing us to address issues with imaging and intervention.
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