I survived Hodgkin’s lymphoma as a young adult about twenty years ago, thanks to the chemotherapy and radiotherapy that I received at Stanford Hospital as part of a clinical trial.
Even back then, the focus of the research was on fine-tuning my cancer treatment to maintain an excellent likelihood of survival, while minimizing the long-term health problems due to therapy. I knew Hodgkin’s was unlikely to kill me, so I had to worry instead about future health issues caused by my radiation and chemotherapy.
People that survive cancer at a young age are expected to live many decades after diagnosis and treatment, so they are the most vulnerable population to long-term damaging effects from cancer therapy. Stanford's Karen Effinger, MD, MS, and Michael Link, MD, explore this issue in an editorial published today in JAMA Oncology.
The editorial explains that it is critical to directly study the late effects in young adult cancer survivors, rather than the common practice of extrapolating from studies of children and middle-aged adults.
In particular, they discuss a new study by Katherine Rugbjerg, PhD, and Jorgen Olsen, MD, DMSc, from the Danish Cancer Society Research Center, which used the national Danish registries to compare the long-term risk of hospitalization in almost 34,000 5-year survivors of adolescent and young adult cancers with that of more than 228,000 age- and sex-matched population controls. Reported in the latest issue of JAMA Oncology, Rugbjerg and Olsen found that adolescent and young adult cancer survivors had significant health issues due to their treatment; however, these treatment effects were different than survivors of childhood cancers.
The editorial also discusses the late effects of pediatric cancer treatment on survivors’ neurocognitive development, which impacts education, employment and quality of life. Effinger and Link specifically describe a new study reported in JAMA Oncology by Kevin Krull, PhD, and colleagues from the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which compared the neurocognitive outcomes in 80 adult 25-year survivors of a pediatric cancer with 39 controls. Krull concluded that the risk of neurocognitive impairment from cancer treatment was related to the development of chronic health conditions — rather than directly from exposure to high-doses of chemotherapy, as expected — but longitudinal studies are needed to sort out possible modifying factors.
The editorial authors conclude:
Going forward, we must apply our knowledge of late effects to improve monitoring and interventions for patients. While the progress made in the management of cancer in children and young adults has been gratifying, we must remember the words of Giulio D’Angio, who reminds us that “cure is not enough.”
Jennifer Huber, PhD, is a science writer with extensive technical communications experience as an academic research scientist, freelance science journalist, and writing instructor.
Previously: Study highlights childhood cancer survivors’ increased risk of future health problems, Questioning whether physicians are equipped to care for childhood cancer survivors and A cancer survivor discusses the importance of considering fertility preservation prior to treatment
Photo by klimkin
