**2. Cardiovascular complications of cancer therapy**

Cancer treatment can cause various types of cardiovascular (CV) complications. Different cancer therapies have different CV complications. Cancer therapy toxicity is related to the mechanism of action of the drugs, the doses, the manner of administration and the underlying predisposing factors such as cardiac conditions, genetic pattern and age, and it can manifest itself immediately or many years after the treatment. **Table 1** summarises a variety of anti-cancer therapies and their associated complications, including myocardial dysfunction, heart failure, coronary artery disease, valvular heart disease, arrhythmias, hypertension, peripheral vascular disease, stroke and pulmonary hypertension [4].

Echocardiography is a non-invasive method that can perform a comprehensive evaluation in all stages of cancer treatment and detect myocardial, coronary, valve, pulmonary hypertension and pericardial disease complications secondary to the therapeutic regimen used (radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy).


#### **Table 1.**

*Cancer drug agents associated with cardiovascular toxicity.*
