cardiotoxicity

Cardiotoxicity is the occurrence of heart dysfunction as electric or muscle damage, resulting in heart toxicity. This can cause heart failure, arrhythmia, myocarditis, and cardiomyopathy, resulting in a weakened heart that is not as efficient at pumping blood. While some of these effects are reversible, others can cause permanent damage, requiring further treatment. Cardiotoxicity may be caused by chemotherapy (a usual example is the class of anthracyclines) treatment and/or radiotherapy; complications from anorexia nervosa; adverse effects of heavy metals intake; the long-term abuse of or ingestion at high doses of certain strong stimulants such as cocaine; or an incorrectly administered drug such as bupivacaine.

== Mechanism == Many mechanisms have been used to explain cardiotoxicity. While many times, differing etiologies share the same mechanism, it generally depends on the agent inducing cardiac damage. For example, the primary mechanism is thought to be oxidative stress on cardiac myocytes. It is thought that reactive oxygen species (ROS) overwhelm the antioxidant defenses of cardiac cells, causing direct cellular damage. This oxidative damage can disrupt mitochondrial function, therefore disrupting energy production in the heart muscle itself, leading to energy depletion via depleted ATP and promoting cell death through apoptosis or necrosis.