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Children’s Cancer Treatments Increase Cancer Risk

The May 2004 International Journal of Cancer highlights a study that shows children with cancer who are treated with radiation and certain chemotherapy drugs stand a higher risk of developing soft tissue sarcomas later on in life.

The records of 4400 patients who survived childhood cancer were analyzed. Sixteen soft tissue sarcomas occurred at least three years after the first cancer was diagnosed. While this rate of occurrence is only 0.6%, it is 54 times higher than that seen in an average population.

Of the 16 sarcomas that developed, 14 of them occurred in or near the site where the radiation was given for the first cancer. It was also found that as the radiation dosages increased, so did the risk of soft tissue sarcoma later on.

Additionally, the researchers found that treatment with a drug called Procarbazine also seemed to increase the risk of sarcoma.

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