Cardio-Oncology Clinic Established at The Mount Sinai Hospital
Cardiologists and cancer experts at The Mount Sinai Hospital have joined forces to establish its first Cardio-Oncology Clinic at The Tisch Cancer Institute.
Cardiologists and cancer experts at The Mount Sinai Hospital have joined forces to establish its first Cardio-Oncology Clinic at The Tisch Cancer Institute at The Mount Sinai Hospital.
The Cardio-Oncology Clinic, located at the Leon and Norma Hess Center for Science and Medicine, is one of the first specialized clinics dedicated to personalized patient risk assessment, prevention, detection, and treatment of potential cardiovascular effects from cancer therapy. It is a collaboration between Mount Sinai Heart and the Division of Hematology/Oncology at The Mount Sinai Hospital.
Cardio-Oncology is an emerging medical field. That’s why the Cardio-Oncology Clinic has been established at Mount Sinai to bring together the collective expertise of cardiovascular and oncology specialists who will identify any potential cardiotoxicity issues from chemotherapeutic agents. Moreover, this new collaboration will allow for further in-depth research into the field of cardio-oncology.
"The ultimate objective of the Cardio-Oncology program is to balance maximal cancer survival with minimizing cardiac damage, and help ensure better long-term health outcomes overall for our cancer patients," says Randall Holcombe, MD, Director of Clinical Cancer Affairs and Director of the Ruttenberg Treatment Center at The Tisch Cancer Institute at The Mount Sinai Hospital.
"We are excited about this new multidisciplinary collaboration between our oncologists and cardiologists at Mount Sinai to continue our mission to advance medicine and provide the best comprehensive care for our patients," says Jagat Narula, MD, PhD, Director of Cardiovascular Imaging at Mount Sinai Heart. Dr. Narula and Dr. Holcombe initiated the Cardio-Oncology program.
"Our Cardio-Oncology Clinic allows each cancer patient to be carefully assessed for any potential cardiovascular health risks due to their chemotherapy regimen in combination with prevention guidance, close surveillance, and treatment options, particularly for those who are at high risk," says Gagan Sahni, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) at The Mount Sinai Hospital who supervises and coordinates the Cardio-Oncology Clinic.
Dr. Sahni adds: "Our goal is to avoid having patients come to us after they have developed heart effects in the years following their cancer treatment. We aim to identify those at highest risk for cardiac side effects and intervene early. This timely intervention includes surveillance with latest echocardiographic and imaging modalities, suggesting modification of their cancer treatment and starting additional cardioprotective drugs to limit the potential cardiovascular damage from their chemotherapy."
"The establishment of our Cardio-Oncology Clinic at Mount Sinai is critical and very timely given this emerging subspecialty of the cardio-oncology field, especially with the advent of newer cancer therapies, and the development of more sophisticated cardiovascular imaging methods to detect possible cardiotoxicity from traditional and new chemotherapeutic agents," says Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, Director of Mount Sinai Heart and Physician-in-Chief of The Mount Sinai Hospital.
"Currently, there are no formal guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of cardiotoxicity from chemotherapy," says Dr. Narula. "The field is growing internationally with an increase in the published research studying chemotherapy associated cardiac adverse events."
The Cardio-Oncology Clinic offers each cancer patient a personalized assessment of their risk of developing cardiotoxicity, along with access to the latest medical therapy, cardiac imaging techniques ranging from echocardiography to cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In addition, the Clinic offers consultative services for any cancer patient’s associated cardiac disease on an inpatient or outpatient basis.
"Our Cardio-Oncology program has cardiologists and oncologists working together to help further protect the hearts of our patients undergoing cancer treatments and help patients make more informed decisions regarding their cancer treatment options. Eventually this collaboration will lay the foundation for larger clinical trials to better understand cardiotoxicity and thereby establish clearer guidelines for risk stratification, surveillance, and treatment," says Dr. Sahni.
To reach the Cardio-Oncology Clinic for consultation or patient referral, call: 212-824-8606 (for Wednesday appointments) or 212-241-4977 (for Monday, Friday appointments).
About the Mount Sinai Health System
Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with more than 43,000 employees working across eight hospitals, over 400 outpatient practices, nearly 300 labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time — discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it.
Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care solutions from birth through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients’ medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes approximately 7,300 primary and specialty care physicians; 13 joint-venture outpatient surgery centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and more than 30 affiliated community health centers. We are consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report's Best Hospitals, receiving high "Honor Roll" status, and are highly ranked: No. 1 in Geriatrics and top 20 in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Neurology/Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Pulmonology/Lung Surgery, Rehabilitation, and Urology. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked No. 12 in Ophthalmology. U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Children’s Hospitals” ranks Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital among the country’s best in several pediatric specialties.
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