But, in around 10 per cent of patients, this treatment causes problems with heart function, leaving them in need of treatment with multiple medications \u2013 such as beta-blockers and ACE inhibitors \u2013 to help recovery. Survivors are currently advised to stay on these drugs for life, even after their cancer treatment ends and their heart recovers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The trial involved 90 breast cancer survivors at four hospitals in the UK who started taking heart failure medication after a diagnosis of HER2-targeted therapy-related cardiac dysfunction, but whose hearts later recovered\u00a0following treatment.\u00a0All\u00a0study volunteers\u00a0were women, with an average age of\u00a050.<\/p>\n
Everyone in the study was randomly assigned to either gradually withdraw from their heart failure medication (46 women) or to continue taking it (44 women). They were followed closely for one year with blood tests, quality-of-life\u00a0questionnaires\u00a0and\u00a0cardiac MRI scans\u00a0to check\u00a0whether their heart function\u00a0had\u00a0worsened.<\/p>\n
One woman in the group that stopped their medication experienced a decline in her left ventricular ejection fraction (a measure of the heart’s pumping ability). She didn’t report\u00a0any\u00a0symptoms,\u00a0but\u00a0the\u00a0decrease\u00a0was\u00a0picked up on\u00a0an\u00a0MRI scan at 12 months.\u00a0Her\u00a0heart function improved when\u00a0she\u00a0started taking their heart failure medication again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
None of the group that continued to take their heart failure treatment saw a decline in their heart function.<\/p>\n
Overall, left ventricular ejection fraction remained stable in both groups (minus one per cent in the withdrawal group and minus 0.2 per cent in the continuation group) with no significant differences between the two groups after one year (withdrawal group 55.2 per cent compared to 55.6 per cent in continuation group).\u00a0<\/p>\n
None of the women in the trial reported any heart failure symptoms, required hospital treatment\u00a0or experienced any other heart problems during the trial.<\/p>\n
\nThese findings will be hugely encouraging for the thousands of breast cancer survivors whose heart health has been affected by lifesaving cancer treatment.<\/p>\n
The study results give hope that many women will be able to safely stop medicines once their heart has recovered. The importance of ongoing monitoring is highlighted by the one study participant whose heart scan showed her heart function deteriorated but then bounced back when her heart treatment was restarted. More research is needed and the women will be followed up for longer, but in the meantime the good news for this group of breast cancer survivors is lifelong medications after heart complications need not be the default.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Sonya Babu-Narayan, clinical director, British Heart Foundation and consultant cardiologist<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The study was also supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research Biomedical Research Centre: UCLH.<\/p>\n
Lucy\u2019s story<\/p>\n
Lucy was diagnosed with triple positive breast cancer, meaning her cancer was positive for two different receptors as well as the HER2 protein. \u201cI didn\u2019t believe it for a while. I\u2019d been working in clinical trials governance in the NHS for about five years when I was diagnosed, working in the team that issues approvals for oncology trials.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving triple positive breast cancer meant I was at higher risk, but also that there were targeted treatments available. I started on chemotherapy and about halfway through that I started on my first HER2-targeted treatment, followed by surgery.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter surgery I was going to start taking a different HER2-targeted treatment. I was really keen to get going but, on the day I was meant to consent to the new treatment, a review of an echocardiogram I\u2019d recently had showed that my heart function had declined.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe doctors told me it was because of the HER2-targeted treatment and my heart function would need to improve before I could start the new protocol, but they couldn\u2019t tell me if that would definitely happen or how long it would take.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing told I had heart problems from my cancer treatment was a shock \u2013 another thing to get my head around. I thought the worst had already happened, I\u2019d been really unlucky with my breast cancer diagnosis but I didn\u2019t really think about the other things that could happen because of my treatment. Before I started the HER2-targeted treatment the doctors told me that there was a chance it could impact my heart, but you don\u2019t think that it\u2019ll happen to you.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started taking medicines to improve my heart function. I was put on ramipril [an ACE inhibitor] and bisoprolol [a beta-blocker]. It was difficult finding the right dose to start with and I was having side effects. If I forgot to take one of my tablets I\u2019d worry about my heart. It felt like a lot \u2013 another thing to think about on top of everything else I was dealing with going through cancer treatment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThankfully, after about three months tests showed that my heart function had improved. I was able to start taking the new HER2-targeted drug, but I had to have more monitoring after that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was really nervous when I was randomized to stop taking my medication after I\u2019d signed up to the trial. Withdrawing from the medication was scary, I felt like it was the thing holding me together and keeping me well because, after my cancer treatment ended, the doctors could never say that it would be fine to stop.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to make so many decisions when you have cancer and it can be a really lonely place. I hope this research will help people in the same position by giving them the answers they don\u2019t currently have. I can put what happened in the past and enjoy the freedom that being able to stop my heart medication has given me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Many\u00a0breast cancer survivors whose treatment\u00a0caused\u00a0them to develop\u00a0problems with their\u00a0heart\u00a0function\u00a0can safely stop their medication\u00a0after\u00a0their heart\u00a0recovers\u00a0and\u00a0most won’t\u00a0need to continue\u00a0treatment\u00a0long-term,\u00a0according to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":663692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[78],"tags":[4139,110,23669,2908,718,179101,18,11566,135,137,138,23850,19,17,170,172,9097,92],"class_list":["post-663691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-breast-cancer","tag-cancer","tag-cancer-treatment","tag-cardiology","tag-drugs","tag-echocardiogram","tag-eire","tag-fatigue","tag-health","tag-heart","tag-heart-failure","tag-heart-rate","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-protein","tag-research","tag-surgery","tag-therapy"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117184739490150279","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ImageForNews_845779_17880934930139122.jpg\" "\\"Breast")
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