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Health problems secondary to radiation therapy

New Report: Cancer and CVD After Radiation Therapy Medscape , Nick Mulcahy March 13, 2012 — Second cancers and cardiovascular disease (CVD) after radiotherapy are being experienced by “an ever-growing number of cancer survivors,” according to the authors of a national report  published in the March 7 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

The number of cancer survivors in the United States has tripled since 1971 and is currently estimated to be 12 million, say the authors, who are members of an expert committee convened by the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP).

The survivorship success has been due, in part, to modern therapies. However, these therapies, including radiotherapy, carry with them an increased risk for late adverse events, most notably second malignant neoplasms (SMNs) and CVD…..

The NCRP charged its expert committee with reviewing the associations between SMN and CVD and radiation therapy, which 50% of all cancer patients receive.

Part of the challenge of the task was a relative lack of long-term studies on SMNs and CVD in cancer survivors treated with radiotherapy, according to the authors, led by Lois Travis, MD, from the Wilmot Cancer Center at the University of Rochester Medical Center, New York.

“Few reports describe survival after SMN or CVD,” they write.

Nevertheless, there is an “increased awareness” of these 2 events happening after radiation, and there is a body of literature on their incidence, say the authors. SMN and CVD are 2 of the “most frequent and life-threatening adverse events associated with radiotherapy,” they write.

Certain cancers carry a higher mortality risk from radiotherapy-related SMNs than others, note the authors. “For patients with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, testicular cancer, and certain childhood cancers, SMNs have emerged as an important cause of death,” they write…… http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/760122

March 14, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, USA