Senior Staff Nao Muraoka, M.D. |
Senior Staff Takuya Oyakawa, M.D. |
Kei Iida, M.D. | Ayano Fujita, M.D. | Hirohisa Endo, M.D. | Tetsuma Oyama, M.D. |
The roles of the Division of Cardiology at a cancer center are summed up in two major ones.
One is to assess the current conditions of the heart when the patient has had such cardiovascular disease as coronary disorders (i.e., angina or myocardial infarction), arrhythmia, hypertension, heart failure, cardiomyopathy and valve disease starting before the cancer, or when cardiac disease is suspected as a result of preoperative examination, and to support the patient in either case for the uneventful course of cancer treatment. In addition, as the aging population is getting bigger, the number of patients having cardiovascular disease as a complication associated with cancer is increasing, too.
Another is to diagnose and provide a treatment as well as a management for cardiovascular side effects developed during a cancer treatment including surgery, radio therapy and anti-cancer drug therapy. Among the side effects, those developed by anti-cancer drugs are getting more and more diverse in terms of the timing of onset and the symptoms due to the increasing number of new anti-cancer drugs being developed lately. Furthermore, the number of long-term cancer survivors is increasing due to the improvement of the outcome from cancer therapy. That means some of the side effects can reportedly take many years to develop after the cancer treatment, and the cardiovascular disease developed in the cancer survivors is getting more and more to be noted in recent years.
When a patient, who has experienced a cardiovascular disease before or is currently taking treatment for it, wishes to take a cancer therapy, a precise diagnosis must be made to see if his/her heart has an endurance for it. For that purpose, we provide various examinations with cutting-edge medical devices for the heart, including load electrocardiogram, cardiac MRI, cardiac ultrasonography, CT heart scan, radioactive scans of the heart, cardiac PET and Swan-Ganz catheterization study. In case the examination result proves the need for coronary catherization study, we will swiftly arrange the referral to a specialist at a neighboring medical institution. Even when we learn from the examination results that the patient has a cardiovascular disorder, his/her cancer treatment should not be suspended. We will cooperate with the relevant clinical division and clarify what should be done for the patient, which will include concurrent administration of a drug for the heart disease, blood pressure check or dose control for drip infusion. Sometimes the treatment for the heart disease such as a heart surgery or catheterization will be given the priority, but it will be for getting the cancer treatment started with the least possible risks.
If a patient has a cardiovascular disorder as a complication of his/her cancer therapy, it will immediately be taken care of at this division. For example, when the patient starts having arrhythmia suddenly or acute heart failure during his/her anti-cancer drug treatment, we will immediately give him/her appropriate medication to control the disorder and prevent the recurrence. Moreover, some of anti-cancer drugs may have cardiac toxicity, which is considered as the adverse effect resulting in lowered cardiac function or blood-pressure variability, and the patient is sometimes forced to stop his/her cancer treatment because of it. We always try to do our best to control his/her cardiovascular disorder with various examinations and therapies, so that he/she can continue receiving the cancer treatment.
Even with recent medical advancement, there are still many questions remaining about how cancer is associated with a cardiovascular disorder and about how cancer treatment affects the heart. Moreover, anti-cancer drug therapy is rapidly being improved these days. At this division, we make efforts constantly to retain quality cancer therapy by engaging in research and study regarding the association between cancer and heart disease.
Many of the cancer treatments can give the patients physical strains. Therefore, we do our best to support the patients with cardiac disorders to make them well-conditioned for their cancer treatments.
cardiovascular internal medicine
Certified Doctor, the Japanese Society of Internal Medicine
Specialist Certified by the Japanese Circulation Society
The Japanese Society of Nuclear Medicine
The Japanese Onco-Cardiology Society
cardiovascular internal medicine
tumor in circulation organs
cardiac tumor
Certified Doctor and Specialist for Internal Medicine, the Japanese Society of Internal Medicine
Certified Doctor, the Japanese Association of Cardiovascular Intervention and Therapeutics
Specialist Certified by the Japanese Circulation Society
General Clinical Oncologist Certified by the Japanese Board of Cancer Therapy
Certified Doctor in PET Nuclear Medicine, the Japanese Society of Nuclear Medicine
Industrial Doctor Certified by the Japan Medical Association
The Japanese Association of Supportive Care in Cancer
The Japanese Onco-Cardiology Society
clinical cardiology
cardiovascular internal medicine
general internal medicine
Specialist Certified by the Japanese Circulation Society
Specialist Certified by the Japanese Society of Nuclear Medicine
Specialist Certified by the Japanese Society of Internal Medicine
The Japanese Onco-Cardiology Society
Certified Industrial Doctor