Adult survivors of childhood cancer may have more health risks than their normal counterparts.
Researchers of University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center had reported that these health risks would be from the treatment for cancer these people have received in their childhood. Some of these problems will be like lung scarring, congestive heart failure, a blood clot in the head or the lungs, cirrhosis of the liver, ovarian or testicular failure, and becoming blind or losing an eye. These problems will affect these people as direct fallout of radiation therapy or chemotherapy. Problems that may severely affect them are second cancers, heart disease, kidney transplant or need for dialysis, mental retardation, and paralysis of an arm or leg.The researchers had looked into the clinical conditions of 10397 adults who had been treated for pediatric cancer between 1970 and 1986. Their medical records were again checked at the time of the study when their ages ranged from 18 to 48 years. Their health reports were matched with those of their healthy siblings who acted as controls.
The results of the study say that by the age of 45, 57.1% of the patients of childhood cancer reported moderate health problems, while 37% reported severe health problems.
The research report was presented in the annual meeting of American Society of Clinical Oncology.
Reference: American Society of Clinical Oncology, Press release, May 2005
