Cardio-Oncology

Mount Sinai’s Cardio-Oncology Program is an award-winning program that provides a platform of close collaboration between cardiologists specializing in the cardiac effects of cancer treatments with medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, and oncology surgeons, allowing us to customize the best cancer therapies for our patients balanced against their cardiac effects and risk factors.

The Cardio-Oncology Program at The Mount Sinai Hospital, under the directorship of Gagan Sahni, MD, was granted the status of “Gold Center of Excellence“ in 2022. This is the highest designation of certification from the International Cardio-Oncology Society (IC-OS), the largest international platform for physicians and nurse practitioners dedicated to cardiovascular care of cancer patients. Mount Sinai’s Cardio-Oncology Program is the first in New York State to be awarded the coveted Gold status as a Cardio-Oncology Center of Excellence by IC-OS. Only 22 cardio oncology programs nationwide and 31 worldwide have been awarded this recognition acknowledging exceptional cardiovascular care of oncology patients. 

“Many cancer treatments—which includes chemotherapy, radiation, and immunotherapy—can adversely affect the heart, and it’s imperative that these patients are referred to a specialist in the field of Cardio-Oncology in a timely way. My specialty focuses on early prevention, detection, treatment, and management of the potential cardiac effects of cancer treatments so that patients are able to safely continue their therapies. These cardiac adverse effects may  include a myriad of conditions including congestive heart failure, hypertension, arrhythmias, blood clots, angina, and pericardial effusion, all of which should be addressed promptly by a specialist familiar with the effects of cancer therapies and who co-ordinates tailor-made cardiology care with the patient’s oncologist. It’s all about precision yet compassionate cardiac care for our cancer patients,” says Gagan Sahni, MD, FACC, FACP, FICOS, Director of the Cardio-Oncology Clinic and Cardiology Consult Services at The Mount Sinai Hospital.

Moreover, there are approximately 18.1 million adult cancer survivors in the United States today, owing largely to advances made in the field of oncology. More than 40 percent of these cancer survivors above the age of 50 will develop cardiovascular disease. This occurs due to the increasing age of the patients, risk factors common to both cancer and heart disease, and damage to the heart from several  cancer treatments, including chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and radiation. Cardio-Oncology offers specialized care to these cancer survivors as well, so that their risk of cardiovascular disease can be minimized.

The Cardio Oncology clinic at Mount Sinai was established by Dr. Sahni in 2013 and currently provides personalized cardio oncology consultations to more than 2,500 cancer patients and cancer survivors annually from Mount Sinai’s Tisch Cancer Center and across the Mount Sinai network with inpatient, outpatient, and telemedicine consultations.

Our Services

To prevent and manage cardiovascular risks of oncology treatment, we offer the following personalized services:

• Risk assessment, detection, and prevention of cardiotoxicity caused by chemotherapy, immunotherapy, CAR T-cell therapy, bone marrow transplantation, and/or radiation.
• Precision management of cardiac conditions such as coronary artery disease, hypertension, heart failure, arrhythmias, and valve disease, which may pre-exist or arise anew in oncology patients, to allow safe and successful completion of their cancer treatments.
• Prompt and multidisciplinary collaboration with the patient’s hematologist, oncologist or radiation oncologists and referrals to other specialties such as onco-gastroenterologists, onco-nephrologists, onco-neurologists and onco- endocrinologists.
• Access to the latest cardiac imaging techniques including strain imaging and 3D echocardiography, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, and monitoring of cardiac biomarkers to detect and monitor early cardiotoxicity.
• Survivorship clinics for cancer survivors to assess risk and prevent long term cardiovascular effects of cancer treatments.

Mount Sinai Cardio-Oncology in the News and Academia

Dr. Sahni is a Fellow of the International Cardio-Oncology Society, the highest distinction awarded after a comprehensive career review of cardio-oncology clinical work, research, publications and a board certification exam in cardio-oncology. She is an active clinical researcher and teacher in the field, lectures nationwide and internationally on cardio-oncology and is a co-investigator in a National Institutes of Health-funded study on Modeling Best Approaches for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in Cancer Survivors. She has authored six book chapters in cardio-oncology, has publications in several international peer-reviewed journals, and has been featured in Time magazine, Cardiology Today, and Healio HemOnc Today.