Study tracks survivors of childhood cancer





There’s good news when it comes to childhood cancers in the U.S. Today, nearly 80 percent of children and adolescents diagnosed with cancer become long-term survivors as a result of advanced treatments. Medical experts predict that within five years, one i n every 250 young adults will be a childhood cancer survivor.

Unfortunately, there may also be some bad news concerning the longterm survivors of childhood cancer, according to a recent study published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Researchers retrospectively tracked the long-term health status of more than 10,000 adults diagnosed with childhood cancer between 1970 and 1986 who survived at least five years, and compared the results with their siblings.

The study showed that survivors had a significantly higher rate of illness from chronic health conditions than their siblings and that cancer treatments necessary for survival were linked to the development of serious health problems.

As a group, adult survivors of childhood cancer were eight times as likely as their siblings to have severe or lifethreatening chronic health conditions, such as heart attack and heart f a i l u r e , second cancers and severe changes in mental function. Almost three-fourths were found to have a chronic health condition and 40 percent a serious health problem.

The study’s findings underscore the necessity of continued health monitoring of survivors of childhood cancer, with an emphasis on screening for second cancers, heart, kidney and lung disease, and hormonal problems.

“The impact of some of these health problems can be reduced with periodic survivor-focused follow-up,” said Dr. Kevin Oeffinger, a researcher at Memorial SloanKettering Cancer Center in New York and lead author of the study. “Cancer survivors need to realize that some of these conditions can be prevented and many can be reduced in severity.”

The risk of future complications can be further reduced if survivors understand the type of cancer they had and the treatment received, as well as adopt a healthy lifestyle, Oeffinger said.

For information on medical effects of childhood cancer, visit www.beyondthecure.org.

This story provided by North American Precis Syndicate Inc.


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