American journal of therapeutics
-
Immunotherapy is a significant breakthrough in cancer therapy in the last decade. Immunotherapy is better tolerated compared with chemotherapy. However, it does have side effects, and one of the rare and serious side effects of immunotherapy is cardiotoxicity. Cardiotoxicity has been described with other cancer-related treatments such as chemotherapy and targeted therapy. A high index of suspicion is required, and prompt management with immunosuppression needs to be instituted as soon as possible to prevent fatal outcomes. ⋯ All patients who are starting immune checkpoint inhibitors should undergo baseline cardiac risk factor assessment with referral to a cardiologist in a patient with multiple risk factors or previous history of cardiovascular disease. Cardiac immune-related adverse events are higher in patients taking combination therapy with anti-CTLA-4/anti-PD-1 agents compared with monotherapy. Patients with known cardiac comorbidities require a higher level of vigilance to monitor for cardiac toxicity because nonspecific symptoms can lead to rapid clinical deterioration and a higher rate of mortality when treated with checkpoint inhibitors.
-
Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is increasingly reported in seriously ill patients with COVID-19 infection. Incidence of VTE has been reported before and results varied widely in study cohorts. ⋯ Major VTE events, especially pulmonary embolism, seem to be high in COVID-19 patients admitted to the intensive care unit. Therapeutic anticoagulation dosing seems to significantly benefit the odds of preventing any VTE when compared with prophylactic dosing in all hospitalized patients.