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Video transcript
I am, as a good Brazilian, trying to ski. I am not excellent at it, but I like it, so maybe one day.
I'm Roberta Florido. I am a cardiologist, also trained in advanced heart failure and cardio-oncology. I'm an associate professor of medicine and the director of the Cardio-Oncology Program.
What is cardio-oncology?
Cardio-oncology is the care for patients who have or who have had cancer and who are at either increased risk for or who have developed cardiovascular disease. And so that's a large group of patients. It can be patients who have, for example, pre-existing cardiovascular disease, who go on to develop cancer and then receive therapies that may affect their heart, or it may be patients who have never had cardiovascular issues before, but during cancer treatment or after go on to develop heart issues.
Cardio-Oncology Program
The Cardio-Oncology Program offers advanced diagnostic tools to assess heart health before, during, and after treatment. This allows us to customize monitoring and treatment strategies to the specific needs of each patient.
Why is cardio-oncology important?
The field of cardio-oncology is relatively new, and it's rapidly growing. So, I think there is a lot more recognition about this overlap between cancer and cardiovascular disease. Patients who are diagnosed with cancer may have a higher burden of cardiovascular risk factors, so excess weight, diabetes, high blood pressure, and a lot of those risk factors can be frequently overlooked because cancer dominates the picture. But they may influence the patient's ability to receive cancer therapies, as well as their longevity. Their main determinant of longevity may not be their cancer, their prior cancer, but cardiovascular disease.
What do you recommend to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease?
The American Heart Association has this big campaign. It talks about these lifestyle and risk factor modifications. So, exercise, everybody should aim to be more active, the more the better, a healthy diet will also go a long way, both in preventing cancer as well as cardiovascular disease, trying to maintain a healthy weight and avoid excess weight, avoidance of smoking, that's a big one for cancer and also cardiovascular disease, healthy sleep, or adequate sleep, being aware of their blood pressure, and what is the goal blood pressure, being aware of your cholesterol, and whether there's any indication for them to take any cholesterol medications. Know their blood sugars, whether they have diabetes or not. Lots of those risk factors have been shown to not only predict the risk of cardiovascular disease, but also predispose someone to cancer, and so managing those is very important.
How has treatment improved for cardio-oncology patients?
A lot has changed in the management of heart failure in the last several years with newer medications that now increase the likelihood of recovery of heart function and significantly increase patient survival. We have a lot of opportunity to start those medications and improve not only the heart function but also how patients are feeling and their longevity. A lot of those medications may be used, and there's some data to suggest that they may help mitigate the risks of cardiac toxicity from cancer therapies. I think there’s a lot of a lot of things coming down the pipeline in terms of medical management and prevention of cardiac toxicity.
What are you up to on your days off?
I have three little kids, a four and a half year old and two-and-a-half-year-old twins. So, we visit a lot of playgrounds and parks, recently, swimming pools, yeah no, but we have loved living in Utah and all the outdoor activities that are available, how safe it is, how family friendly it is, and I am as a good Brazilian, trying to ski. I am not excellent at it, but I like it, so maybe one day.
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The critical research happening every day at Huntsman Cancer Institute is supported by the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute, including cancer center support grant P30 CA042014, as well as Huntsman Cancer Foundation.