China's First Institute of Cardio-Oncology Established in Shanghai

The first cardio-oncology institute in China was established in Shanghai on Thursday, a key step toward standardizing and systematizing the field.

Led by Zhongshan Hospital, the new institute unites major local medical institutions. The institute integrates clinical practice, scientific research, and teaching resources to rapidly translate fundamental research into clinical care, enhance cancer patients' quality of life, and address the growing need for chronic disease management among survivors.

According to Dr Cheng Leilei of Zhongshan Hospital's cardio-oncology team, new cancer therapies and medications emerge swiftly as medical advancements continue.

"Immunotherapy featured by Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor therapy has shown encouraging results, but cardiotoxicities caused by the therapy also alert doctors, because such therapy can cause ICI-related myocarditis."

The incidence of myocarditis in ICI patients is 0.06 to 3.8 percent, but the mortality rate is 40 to 66 percent.

Zhongshan Hospital's cardio-oncology team is a trailblazer in this field. Since opening East China's first multidisciplinary cardio-oncology clinic, the team has reduced the mortality rate of ICI-related myocarditis to less than 5 percent, she told the 5th National Training Course on Clinical Diagnosis and Treatment of Cardiovascular Adverse Reactions Related to Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors (ICIs) in the city on Thursday.

The training course also produced a new clinical guideline for diagnosing and treating ICI-related myocarditis, providing doctors countrywide with more accurate and practical information.

A multicenter randomized controlled clinical trial to treat glucocorticoid -resistant ICI-related myocarditis has also begun. The Zhongshan Hospital team is leading the trial, which will examine the efficacy and safety of several combined treatment regimens. The goal is to improve treatment options for difficult and refractory situations, thereby increasing the survival rate of critically ill patients.

Cardio-oncology focuses on preventing, identifying, and treating cardiac problems caused by cancer treatments. With an aging population and an increasing number of cancer patients, cardiovascular toxicity caused by chemotherapy, radiotherapy, targeted therapy, and, particularly, immunotherapy has become a major clinical concern," said Cheng, whose team discovered a novel biomarker for myocardial injury that can effectively predict potential cardiovascular events such as myocarditis and heart failure.

Cheng said that her team is working with the Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, to create wearable devices that can detect biomarkers in real time to provide early and effective warning of cardiac damage.