Cardiovascular Outcomes of Cancer

COPPER investigators are examining cardiovascular outcomes among breast and bladder cancer patients receiving potentially cardiotoxic chemotherapy including trastuzumab and anthracyclines for breast cancer and platinum-based agents for bladder cancer.   Analysis shows that trastuzumab is increasingly used among older women undergoing adjuvant breast cancer therapy, and heart failure/cardiomyopathy is a common complication persisting up to 3 years after diagnosis.   Additionally, thromboembolic events are more likely to occur in bladder cancer patients receiving platinum-based chemotherapy, especially in the first year after diagnosis.