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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/1496181
oncologists from Melbourne, Australia, primarily spending their days caring for children in a tertiary pediatric oncology clinic and researching toxicities related to children’s cancer therapies within the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. Together they are looking at how treatment can impact heart rhythm and are trying to identify innovative ways to intervene. The inspiration for their work comes from their patients — both success stories and heartbreak. Toxicities in cancer treatment can lead to heart rhythm disturbances, such as prolonged QT syndrome, which can be potentially life-threatening. Prolonged QT creates an irregular heart rhythm, increasing the time needed for blood to flow through the heart. Because of their susceptibility to long QT, children receiving cancer treatment are routinely screened at least once per week with a 12-lead electrocardiogram, according to Dr. Conyers. However, outpatients still need access to monitoring. “I read about the Apple Heart Study and I thought this could be important for pediatrics,” said Dr. Conyers. “We used to think of cardiac toxicity as something that happened 10 years after treatment. But now we know that new cancer therapies (like specific inhibitors or immune therapy) can cause arrhythmias within 48 hours of medication — so there’s a big gap in terms of what we know about the toxicities at the moment.” In the coming months, Dr. Conyers and her team at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute will begin with researching the sensitivity of the Apple Watch ECG app in 40 children and adolescent patients.1 From there, the team will look for ways for patients to take their ECGs wherever they are, whenever they’re able. With those insights, the team