OnCo
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Biomarker-guided cardioprotection for everyone on cardiotoxic cancer therapy

Anthracyclines, HER2 drugs and some newer agents can damage the heart. Monitor with blood tests and scans and start cheap heart-protective drugs early in those at risk.

Cardio-oncology has grown as a specialty but access is patchy and protective strategies (dexrazoxane, statins, ACE inhibitors, beta-blockers, SGLT2 inhibitors) have mostly small or mixed trials. The proposal is a unified, algorithmic programme: baseline risk score, troponin and strain imaging surveillance at defined points, protocolised initiation of protective therapy on early signals, and a linked registry, tested in a pragmatic randomised trial across anthracycline, HER2 and immune checkpoint regimens.

Hypothesis
Biomarker-guided cardioprotection halves the incidence of cancer therapy-related cardiac dysfunction at two years and reduces treatment interruptions for cardiac reasons.
Rationale
Cardiac injury is detectable before it is symptomatic and several inexpensive drugs plausibly protect; the field lacks a standardised, tested pathway rather than candidate interventions.
What would test it
Pragmatic multi-centre trial randomising centres to the algorithmic programme versus usual care with cardiac dysfunction and oncology dose delivery as co-primary endpoints.
Maturity
early clinical
Who has to act
research
Cost to try
Medium ($1M to $50M)
Years to first evidence
4
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