Project Director

Rhyne, Laurel

Department Examiner

Giles, David; Harrell, Katherine

Department

Dept. of Biological and Environmental Sciences

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

Breast cancer has the highest incidence rate of any cancer in the United States, and it is the second most deadly. It comprises 30% of all diagnosed cancers in women, and it is predicted that the incidence of breast cancer will continue to rise. Most common chemotherapeutic agents utilized in the treatment of breast cancer are known to be cardiotoxic, each with differing mechanisms and possible damage done to the patient. In turn, cardiovascular diseases are the number one killer of women in the United States, and their prevalence is continually growing. It is unknown exactly how many women who are treated with chemotherapeutic agents and survive breast cancer develop cardiovascular complications, and there is no predictive model to assist with discerning the patients who would be affected by this complication. The following is a review of literature that was conducted to determine the potential impact of utilizing the cardiac biomarkers C-reactive protein (CRP), homocysteine, brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), lipid profiles, and cardiac troponins as predictors of increased cardiovascular risk in women who require or have required chemotherapeutic treatment for breast cancer and to potentially establish a route to determining prevalence. This was completed by reviewing PubMed; Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER) databases; National Institutes of Health (NIH) reports; Tennessee Cancer Registry; Baroness Erlanger Hospital registry abstracting; and National Cancer Institute (NCI) reports. It was found that, with diligent monitoring, all the biomarkers studied could be used to quantify the women affected by cardiovascular disease (CVD) due to breast cancer treatment as well as to predict CVD in breast cancer patients to prevent or reduce damage.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Professor Laurel Rhyne and Dr. Shirleen Chase for their support, guidance, patience, encouragement, and positivity throughout the duration of this project. Also, I would like to thank my thesis committee members, Dr. David Giles and Professor Katherine Harrell, for their guidance and support. Finally, a huge thank you to my family and friends for their unwavering support and love.

Degree

B. S.; An honors thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Bachelor of Science.

Date

5-2021

Subject

Breast--Cancer--Treatment; Cardiovascular system--Diseases--Prevention; Chemotherapy

Keyword

breast cancer; cardiovascular disease; cardiotoxicity; chemotherapy; prevention

Discipline

Oncology

Document Type

Theses

Extent

[i], 25 leaves

DCMI Type

Text

Language

English

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Download

Included in

Oncology Commons

Share

COinS