Cardiotox

Cardiotox® : The drug-induced/iatrogenic cardiotoxicity website & App
The companion website and App Pneumotox ® addresses drug- and chemical-induced/iatrogenic pneumotoxicity.

By Philippe Camus MD Professor (emeritus) (board-certified pulmonary medicine, cardiology) - Université Bourgone-Europe, Dijon, France.

Cardiotox is an aid to the diagnosis and management of cardiotoxicity and cardiac reactions suspected of being induced by drugs, herbals, chemicals, radiation therapy and/or of iatrogenic origin..

Causality assessment and exact diagnosis are the full responsibility of the user.

Cardiotox is designed to provide regularly-updated information on drugs causing cardiac toxicity (> 530), resulting patterns of involvement (> 400) and bibliography (3,950 references as of August 2026) within a few minutes. That may be the real crux in emergency situations, and enabling prompt withdrawal. Yet, double-checking in and from other sources is indicated.

Cardiotox rests on a bibliographic repository of drug-induced pneumo- and cardiotoxicity built since 1978, that amounts to > 50,000 references as of August, 2026. The vast majority of these is indexed in PubMed. All references were and are still being carefully reviewed for reliability and causality by the founder, then indexed under the umbrella of the corresponding drug or agent.

One can access Cardiotox by both causative drugs, chemicals, herbals, substances of abuse, inhalants, gases, radiation therapy and/or patterns of involvement.

Drug names are generic (International Nonproprietary Names (INN), alphabetical), not brand. It may be appropriate to check the exact composition of any proprietary drug, as any other added substance or excipient can be toxic.Matching generic and brand names is country - dependent. Patterns are grouped by families according to the main anatomic site of involvement.

If a drug or drug reaction is listed in Cardiotox, this does not equate the patient is demonstrating actual toxicity. A “Diagnosing DICD” window in Cardiotox can help fortify the diagnosis. Lack of case in the literature or in Cardiotox does not exclude a diagnosis of drug cardiotoxicity as there may be unpublished cases, you may be seeing the first case ever, or we may have overlooked some information. In such situations, Cardiotox or Pneumotox cannot be held responsible. At any rate, the founder of Cardiotox can be contacted by mail 7/7.

A search for exposure to drugs, substances of abuse, and/or chemicals must be done exhaustively with the patient, family, health professionals, pharmacy and/or law enforcement personel. This can be life-saving, enabling appropriate drug withdrawal.

Caution: Drug therapy withdrawal can cause flare of the background disease. Deliberate rechallenge of patient with the drug can be hazardous and lead to fatal consequences.

Early sampling of body fluids for drugs and/or metabolites is indicated as early as possible, particularly in the severely ill. Knowledge of toxidromes and antidotes to combat them is also precious.

Where in doubt, consider double-checking PubMed, your affiliated Safety for Medicines Department/Agency and the Pharmacovigilance Department of drug companies. They may host more and/or undisclosed information.

Patients should be reassured as such incidents are rare. If needed, they are invited to consult with their treating physicians or via Cardiotox.

You may contact Cardiotox through the contact window.


ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
The current version of Cardiotox website and App were developed by Akyos Communication, Dijon, France

Pneumotox received a generous Grant from the ERS in 2019