Onco-Hypertension: Changing Paradigm of Treating Hypertension in Patients With Cancer

The Oncology Grand Rounds series is designed to place original reports published in the Journal into clinical context. A case presentation is followed by a description of diagnostic and management challenges, a review of the relevant literature, and a summary of the authors’ suggested management approaches. The goal of this series is to help readers better understand how to apply the results of key studies, including those published in Journal of Clinical Oncology , to patients seen in their own clinical practice. Hypertension (HTN) in patients with cancer remains an underestimated yet complex clinical conundrum to merit its own marker of Onco-Hypertension. A myriad of antineoplastic drugs from vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitor antibodies such as bevacizumab, tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), cisplatin, and carfilzomib cause new or worsening HTN, and HTN is also a risk factor for certain cancers such as renal cell carcinoma. Untreated HTN before and during cancer treatment potentially increases the short-term and long-term risk of cardiotoxicity, such as heart failure, and affects both cancer and cardiovascular mortality. However, efficient and early management of HTN in patients with cancer is often challenging because of multiple drug interactions, noncompliance, and intolerance of medications because of the side effects of cancer treatments, labile nature of HTN, use of non-neoplastic drugs such as steroids and erythropoietin, and pharmacogenetic interactions between cancer treatment and HTN-related genes. The Oncology Grand Rounds aim to examine the bidirectional association and challenges of managing HTN in patients with cancer and the necessity for precision medicine to manage it.