Childhood cancer treatments cause chronic illness
- From: E.Nigma <NoReply@xxxxxx>
- Date: 16 Oct 2006 18:01:02 -0000
October 12 2006
Childhood cancer treatments cause chronic illness later in life
http://www.newstarget.com/020737.html
(NewsTarget) Nearly 80 percent of children diagnosed with pediatric
cancer will become long-term survivors due to advances in treatment,
according to a new study published in the Oct. 12 issue of the New
England Journal of Medicine, but it also states that those survivors
will likely live for 20 to 30 years with one or more chronic health
problem caused by those treatments.
"It's important to put our findings into context," said Dr. Kevin
Oeffinger, director of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center's
Program for Adult Survivors of Pediatric Cancer and lead author of the
study, which found that a little more than one-quarter of pediatric
cancer survivors will have to deal with serious, even life-threatening
conditions for decades.
"Cancer is a deadly disease and to cure it often requires fairly toxic
therapy. Because children and teens have organs still in the growing
stage, they're particularly vulnerable to the effects of these
therapies, so it's common to see chronic health problems years after,"
Oeffinger said. "The silver lining, however, is that cancer survivors
need to realize that some of these conditions can be prevented, and
many can be reduced in severity."
The study analyzed information from the Childhood Cancer Survivor
study, which detailed the lives of more than 10,000 survivors between
the years of 1970 and 1986. A little more than 62 percent of the cancer
survivors had at least one chronic health condition, and 27.5 percent
had conditions that were severe or life-threatening. Seventy-three
percent of patients who had been diagnosed with their cancer 30 years
earlier had chronic conditions, and 42.4 percent had severe or life-
threatening conditions.
The patients with the highest risk of serious, long-term side effects
were those treated for bone cancer, central nervous system tumors, or
Hodgkin's disease. Female survivors were at a 1.5 times increased risk
of severe chronic conditions than males. Oeffinger said it was
important for patients and health care providers to be aware of this
increased risk for women.
"This study really highlights the increasing need for lifelong follow-
up," said Dr. Philip Rosoff, director of the Duke University Hospital
Program in Clinical Ethics at the Center for the Study of Medical
Ethics and Humanities in the Division of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology.
"Thinking about the late effects of treatment is a luxury we have that
shows how successful we've become at curing childhood cancer.
"As the treatments for cancer in general get more successful, this is
going to be an increasingly large portion of clinical practice. We need
to raise the awareness of physicians of all backgrounds," he said.
Both Oeffinger and Rosoff said that all cancer patients should receive
a treatment summary of their treatment types, dosages, and potential
problems from treatment for their medical records. Oeffinger added that
it was extremely important for cancer survivors to eat right, exercise
and avoid habits such as smoking.
"There are natural alternatives to the toxic, harmful treatments
offered by the conventional cancer industry," said Mike Adams, a
consumer health advocate and creator of the HerbReference.com education
web site. "Real medicine should help patients heal, not poison them
with chemicals that damage their vital organs.
"Chemotherapy is extremely dangerous and causes permanent damage to the
brain, liver, heart, kidneys and other organs."
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