Cardiotoxicity associated with tyrosine kinase inhibitor sunitinib.

This article presents the results of a review of patients who were treated with Sunitinib, a multitargeted tyrosine-kinase inhibitor for treatment of renal cell carcinomas and gastrointestinal cancer to see if the drug had an associated risk for cardiovascular disease. The study found that there were various problems in patients on the medication including congestive heart failure, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) reductions and increases in blood pressure. The authors conclude that the LVEF might be due to direct cardiomyocyte toxicity made worse by hypertension. They caution physicians to carefully check patients for hypertension and LVEF reduction especially in those with a history of heart disease or risk factors.