Owing to their high efficacy,
anthracycline antibiotics are included in numerous chemotherapeutic regimens used-often in combination with
radiation therapy and/or surgery-in treatment of solid tumours and blood
malignancies, both in children and adults. However, the efficacy of modern
cancer treatments, owing to which the population of cancer survivors has been on the rise in recent years, may be limited by the risk of serious complications involving multiple organs and systems, including the cardiovascular system. Being an important side effect of
anthracyclines,
cardiotoxicity may limit the efficacy of
cancer therapies in the acute phase (i.e. during the treatment) and induce the long-term sequelae, observed years
after treatment completion in childhood cancer survivors. It is very important to understand the
cardiotoxicity-associated mechanisms and to determine its risk factors in order to develop and/or improve the effective countermeasures. Based on published data, the paper provides an outline of current views on
anthracycline cardiotoxicity and discusses such aspects as molecular mechanisms of
cardiotoxicity and its clinical manifestations as well as the new preventive strategies and diagnostic techniques used for the assessment of
cardiovascular abnormalities. The widespread awareness of
cancer treatment-related cardiotoxicity among the healthcare professionals may significantly improve the quality of life of the childhood cancer survivors.