A simple intervention may help lymphoma patients reduce the risk of heart failure associated with anthracycline chemotherapy, researchers believe.
The intervention, known as remote ischaemic conditioning, is being tested in a phase II clinical trial. Participants will undertake the intervention weekly, which involves temporarily cutting off the blood supply to an arm using a device similar to those used for blood pressure readings.
Cardiologists say that the procedure has been found to help tissues in the body become resilient to the damaging impacts of changes in blood flow associated with illness such as stroke.
The study, part of the RESILIENCE project, will also test a new MRI scanning protocol designed to detect early cardiovascular damage to cancer patients.
The trial will involve more than 600 patients receiving anthracycline treatment for lymphoma or breast cancer at 22 hospitals in Spain, Germany, Portugal, Denmark, France and the Netherlands.
Study coordinator Professor Borja Ibáñez, scientific director of the National Center for Cardiovascular Research, Spain, said: “For many patients, the trade-off between cancer and potential heart damage can be horribly stressful. This trial is testing a simple intervention, that patients can do themselves in their own home once a week during cancer treatment, to try to reduce their risk of heart damage.
“If the trial shows that this intervention reduces heart failure in cancer survivors, it will pave the way for an even larger phase III outcomes clinical trial.”
Source:
Moreno-Arciniegas A, García A, Kelm M, D'Amore F, da Silva MG, Sánchez-González J, Sánchez PL, López-Fernández T, Córdoba R, Asteggiano R, Camus V, Smink J, Ferreira A, Kersten MJ, Bolaños N, Escalera N, Pacella E, Gómez-Talavera S, Quesada A, Rosselló X, Ibanez B; RESILIENCE Trial Investigators. (2024) “Rationale and design of RESILIENCE: A prospective randomized clinical trial evaluating remote ischaemic conditioning for the prevention of anthracycline cardiotoxicity.” European Journal of Heart Failure, doi:10.1002/ejhf.3395
Link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ejhf.3395
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