Children and Cancer: What Happens the Second Time Around?
March 27, 2001 (New Orleans) -- As treatments for childhood cancers improve and cancer survivors live longer, there is mounting evidence that people who survived a childhood cancer may be at increased risk of developing another cancer later on. These second incidences of cancer do not seem to be directly related to the first cancer but rather are linked to the treatment initially received, according to a large North American study.
"The leading disease cause of death [in children in the U.S.] far and away is cancer," said expert Barton A. Kamen, MD, PhD, during a press conference Tuesday at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research held here.
Kamen, an American Cancer Society clinical research professor at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Cancer Institute of New Jersey, was not involved in the study but commented on its findings. "Fortunately, [cancer is still] a relatively rare disease. ... There are about 8,000 to 10,000 new diagnoses of cancer in kids in the U.S. every year. ... Kids get leukemia [most often,] and the remarkable cure rate in leukemia is such that in our last 15 years, 90% of the children I've personally taken care of -- which is almost 400 -- are still alive, and 80% of them are free of disease."
That's the good news.
The bad news is that as more and more children survive cancer and live into adulthood, long-term consequences of the cancer therapy they received are sometimes rearing their ugly heads.
Researcher Joseph P. Neglia, MD, PhD, said at the press conference that "as of this year, we're projecting that approximately 70% of all children diagnosed with cancer in the U.S. will be cured of their disease. ... Because of this, it's the responsibility of clinicians and investigators to understand the long-term consequences of this curative therapy in children."
He added that approximately one in 1,000 people in the U.S. between the ages of 20 and 30 is a survivor of childhood cancer. Neglia is an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis.
Children and Cancer: What Happens the Second Time Around?
March 27, 2001 (New Orleans) -- As treatments for childhood cancers improve and cancer survivors live longer, there is mounting evidence that people who survived a childhood cancer may be at increased risk of developing another cancer later on. These second incidences of cancer do not seem to be directly related to the first cancer but rather are linked to the treatment initially received, according to a large North American study.
"The leading disease cause of death [in children in the U.S.] far and away is cancer," said expert Barton A. Kamen, MD, PhD, during a press conference Tuesday at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research held here.
Kamen, an American Cancer Society clinical research professor at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Cancer Institute of New Jersey, was not involved in the study but commented on its findings. "Fortunately, [cancer is still] a relatively rare disease. ... There are about 8,000 to 10,000 new diagnoses of cancer in kids in the U.S. every year. ... Kids get leukemia [most often,] and the remarkable cure rate in leukemia is such that in our last 15 years, 90% of the children I've personally taken care of -- which is almost 400 -- are still alive, and 80% of them are free of disease."
That's the good news.
The bad news is that as more and more children survive cancer and live into adulthood, long-term consequences of the cancer therapy they received are sometimes rearing their ugly heads.
Researcher Joseph P. Neglia, MD, PhD, said at the press conference that "as of this year, we're projecting that approximately 70% of all children diagnosed with cancer in the U.S. will be cured of their disease. ... Because of this, it's the responsibility of clinicians and investigators to understand the long-term consequences of this curative therapy in children."
He added that approximately one in 1,000 people in the U.S. between the ages of 20 and 30 is a survivor of childhood cancer. Neglia is an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis.