Clinical Research Directory

The STOP-MED CTRCD Trial

Cancer therapy-related cardiac dysfunction (CTRCD) is when the heart's ability to pump oxygenated blood to the body is compromised. It is a side effect of cancer therapy which can occur as commonly as in 1 in 5 patients. When this occurs, heart failure medications are started to protect the heart from progressing to heart failure. With early detection and treatment, heart function recovers to normal in \>80% of patients. Unfortunately, heart failure medications are associated with an undesirable long-term pill burden, financial costs, and side-effects (e.g., dizziness and fatigue). As a result, cancer survivors frequently ask if they can safely stop their heart failure medications once their heart function has returned to normal. Currently there is no scientific evidence in this area of Cardio-Oncology. To address this knowledge gap, the investigators have designed a randomized control trial to assess the safety of stopping heart failure medication in patients with CTRCD and recovered heart function. The investigators will enrol patients who have completed their cancer therapy and are on heart medications for their CTRCD, which has now normalized. The investigators will randomize patients with no other reasons to continue heart failure medications (e.g., kidney disease) to continuing or stopping their heart medications safely. All patients will undergo a cardiac MRI at baseline, 1 and 5 years with safety assessments at 6-8 weeks, 6 months and 3 and 5 years. The investigators will determine if stopping medications is non-inferior to continuing medications by counting the numbers of patients who develop heart dysfunction by 1 year in each group.

Evaluation of Impedance Cardiography for Assessing Hemodynamic Shifts in Patients With LA-NSCLC During Treatment.

This study aimed to investigate the role of impedance cardiography (ICG) in evaluating hemodynamic changes during the 6-minute walk test (6MWT) in patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (LA-NSCLC) who underwent combined concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) and immunotherapy. Additionally, It sought to analyze the predictive significance of cardiac parameters to both treatment toxicity and survival prognosis.

Statins for Reduction of Cardiac Toxicity in Patients Receiving HER2 Targeted

This study proposes that the addition of statins reduces the treatment delays or early discontinuations secondary to cardiotoxicity in patients with Stage I-III HER2 positive breast being treated with anti-HER2 therapy.

Sacubitril/Valsartan in PriMAry preventIoN of the Cardiotoxicity of Systematic breaST canceR trEAtMent (MAINSTREAM)

Breast cancer is the most commonly cancer in women in the overall global population. According to the World Cancer Research Fund International, there were more than 2.25 million new cases of breast cancer in women in 2020. Although the modern treatment strategies, based on the complex care, which consists of surgery, radiotherapy, hormone therapy, and targeted chemotherapy directed at specific cancer molecules have substantially reduced the risk of death due to breast cancer, their wide adoption results in the wider prevalence of cardiotoxicity, defined as either symptomatic heart failure, or asymptomatic contractile dysfunction. The occurrence of cardiotoxicity induced by anti-cancer therapies is estimated at 5-15%, and its development is the primary cause of therapy termination, which significantly reduces the probability of the efficacy of treatment. Several attempts have been made to determine the efficacious preventive strategy, which could diminish the risk of cancer-therapy induced cardiotoxicity. The results of the prior studies indicated a trend towards lower risk of troponin elevation, or left ventricular contractile dysfunction with the introduction of drugs interfering with the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone (RAA) axis, which constitute the primary treatment modality in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Sacubitril/valsartan, the novel therapeutic agent, has been demonstrated to significantly improve prognosis in patients with HFrEF. Prior retrospective, small, single-center studies have shown that treatment with sacubitril/valsartan may reduce the risk of cancer-therapy induced cardiotoxicity, or reverse contractile dysfunction caused by anti-cancer therapy. However, no large randomized data confirmed these findings. Therefore, the Sacubitril/Valsartan in PriMAry preventIoN of the cardiotoxicity of systematic breaST canceR trEAtMent) study, has been designed to verify, whether the preventive use of sacubitril/valsartan administered in the doses recommended in patients with HFrEF in breast cancer patients undergoing adjuvant chemotherapy with anthracyclines or anthracyclines and HER-2 monoclonal antibodies, will reduce the incidence of cardiotoxicity defined as impaired left ventricular systolic function on transthoracic echocardiography (TTE). In the trial, a total of 480 patients with histologically confirmed breast cancer, who are eligible for chemotherapy with anthracyclines or anthracyclines and HER-2 monoclonal antibodies, will undergo 1:1 randomization to either preventive treatment with sacubitril/valsartan or placebo. The patients will be followed for 24 months, and will have repetitive efficacy and safety examinations, including echocardiography, MRI (optionally), electrocardiography including 24-h Holter monitoring, blood tests, functional capacity tests and quality of life assessment.

Cardiovascular Health in Adult Patients With Cancer Exposed to Cardiotoxic Therapies

The goal of this observational study is to evaluate the cardiovascular health and prognosis of adult patients with cancer, treated with cardiotoxic therapies. The main purposes of the study are the following: * Identify the demographic factors related to the onset of cardiotoxicity produced by anticancer drugs. * Identify any subgroups more likely to develop distant major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). * Evaluate the usefulness of clinical, biohumoral and echocardiographic parameters for early diagnosis of cardiotoxicity. Participants will be monitored during the anticancer treatment via clinical, laboratory and instrumental evaluation according to the recommendation of the current guidelines on Cardio-Oncology (European Society of Cardiology, 2022). Initial follow-up will be 2 years.

COr Loco-regional Advanced Lung Cancer Treated With Chemo-radiotherapy (COLA)

Patients with loco-regional NSCLC planned for curative treatment with chemoradiotherapy will be invited to participate in a prospective study; besides routine treatment, the patients will be followed with an ECG and cardiac MR for at least two years after radiotherapy treatment.