Trastuzumab (Herceptin) tied to increased heart failure risk

Trastuzumab (Herceptin) tied to increased heart failure risk Publish date: Aug 31, 2012 Clinical Last Updated: 2012-08-30 18:35:16 -0400 (Reuters Health) By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The chemotherapy combination of anthracycline and trastuzumab (Herceptin) increased women's risk of heart failure sevenfold in a new retrospective cohort study - and anthracycline wasn't all to blame. The risk of heart failure or cardiomyopathy "was highly increased in patients treated with trastuzumab alone," the researchers reported in a paper released August 30 by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Earlier randomized controlled trials also showed a link between the drugs and heart failure risk. But researchers said those risks may have been underestimated because the studies were limited to younger women without comorbidities. "The rates of heart failure might actually be higher than what clinical trials have estimated to be associated with these drugs," lead researcher Erin Bowles from Group Health Research Institute in Seattle, Washington told Reuters Health....

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