Surviving the cancer, surviving the treatment: acute cardiac and pulmonary toxicity.

Even though acute cardiopulmonary toxicities occur infrequently, nurses must be aware of the quick responses that are needed to manage these occurrences. Narrow therapeutic index of cancer treatment is well recognized and attributable to the relative inability of cancer treatment to discriminate effectively between normal and cancer tissues. As a consequence, a broad range of cardiopulmonary toxicities is encountered in clinical practice that not only has an impact on a patient's quality of life and ability to accept potentially effective treatment but also may have serious life-threatening consequences. Because of the amount of time spent directly with the patient receiving cancer treatment, the nurse is the one who recognizes subtle changes in the patient's status that indicate acute complications. Subsequently, measures must be taken to minimize acute complications when they occur.