Review
Version 1
Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed
Cardiovascular Vulnerability to COVID-19 in Cancer Survivors
Version 1
: Received: 7 April 2020 / Approved: 8 April 2020 / Online: 8 April 2020 (11:49:56 CEST)
How to cite: Zordoky, B. Cardiovascular Vulnerability to COVID-19 in Cancer Survivors. Preprints 2020, 2020040128. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202004.0128.v1 Zordoky, B. Cardiovascular Vulnerability to COVID-19 in Cancer Survivors. Preprints 2020, 2020040128. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202004.0128.v1
Abstract
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. COVID-19 is caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-Cov-2). Although primarily a respiratory disease, cardiovascular complications of COVID-19 have been increasingly recognized. In addition, higher fatality has been reported in COVID-19 patients with underlying cardiovascular diseases. Cancer survivors have a considerably increased risk for premature cardiovascular diseases, mainly due to cardiotoxic cancer treatments. Therefore, it is foreseeable that cancer survivors will be more vulnerable to cardiovascular complications caused by COVID-19. In this review, three scenarios for increased cardiovascular complications of COVID-19 in cancer patients are proposed. In the first scenario, cardiotoxic cancer treatment and COVID-19 synergize to exacerbate direct myocardial damage. In the second scenario, cardiotoxic cancer treatment leads to a reduced cardiac reserve in cancer survivors, making them more vulnerable to COVID-19 in a “two-hit” model. The third scenario suggests that several shared risk factors may aggravate cardiovascular complications caused by both cancer treatment and COVID-19. Taken together, cancer survivors may be more vulnerable to cardiovascular complications when challenged by the COVID-19, and special cardiovascular care should be given to these patients.
Keywords
COVID-19; Cancer Survivors; Cardiovascular
Subject
Medicine and Pharmacology, Cardiac and Cardiovascular Systems
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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Commenter: MOHAMMAD ALI
The commenter has declared there is no conflict of interests.
Mohammad Ali