Letter by Kounis and Soufras Regarding Article, “Myocardial Protection During Cardiotoxic Chemotherapy”

In the very interesting review published in Circulation 1 dealing with cardiac complications of chemotherapy with a focus on myocardial complications, the authors did not refer to the cardiac hypersensitivity that is associated with chemotherapy. Acute cardiovascular events associated with hypersensitivity to chemotherapeutic drugs pose a real threat for the myocardium. Rare and very rare, but also common and very common acute myocardial ischemic events are usually attributable to myocardial hypersensitivity. Taxanes including paclitaxel and docetaxel; platins including cisplatin, carboplatin, and oxaliplatin; and monoclonal antibodies including rituximab, infliximab, and trastuzumab have induced acute and immediate …