Leukemia survivors prone to other cancers

People treated for leukemia in the childhood are much more prone to other types of cancer later in their lives, a study published on Tuesday, revealed। The study, held at St। Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, involved 2169 people who were treated for acute lymphoblastic leukemia as children and adolescents between 1962 and 1998। As their cancer decreased considerably, their health was monitored for nineteen years on average. The researchers found that childhood leukemia survivors faced 13.5 times more threat of developing other types of cancers than the general population. The study further showed that the occurrence of new cancer increased over 30 years of their leukemia treatment. Among the 1290 patients who remained in complete remission, about 10 per cent developed other forms of cancer, with a relatively rapid increase starting 20 years after the original treatment. St. Jude’s Dr. Nobuko Hijiya, who led the study, emphasized on the need to closely monitor the health of childhood cancer survivors for decades after their original treatment. The majority of cancers the patients developed were those that respond well to treatment like meningioma and basal cell carcinoma, but some were very serious, the researchers stated. Not ruling out genetic factors as playing a role, the researchers also said that chemotherapy and radiation treatments used on childhood leukemia patients partially accounts for the increased risk.