Cancer survival doesn't end health challenges (ASCO annual meeting)

Earlier detection and better treatments are increasing the success rates for cancer battles. But those treatments have been linked to later varied and often severe medical problems.

By Susan J. Landers, AMNews staff. June 20, 2005.

Reports from conferences important to physicians

Expanding ranks of cancer survivors have upped the odds that primary care physicians will encounter at least one or two such patients in an average-size practice.

To illustrate: In 1971, an estimated 3 million people made up the group of patients who had combated the deadly disease and lived to tell about it. By 2001, that number swelled to 10 million -- about the same as the population of Los Angeles. And this tally shows every sign of continuing to grow.

The cadre of childhood cancer survivors, for example, long has been recognized as a medical success story. But this group is being joined by more patients whose cancers were diagnosed when they were adults. Most of them are older than 65. Most had breast, prostate, colorectal or gynecologic cancers. And predictions are for 64% of those newly diagnosed to survive for at least five years.

Earlier diagnoses, more effective treatments and the prevention of secondary diseases are all part of this success story, said researchers at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, held last month in Orlando, Fla.

But the well-recognized health risks of cancer treatments pose follow-up concerns for patients and physicians, said Patricia Ganz, MD, PhD, professor of health services at the University of California-Los Angeles Schools of Medicine and Public Health.

For instance, adults who were treated for childhood cancers in the 1970s and 1980s are five times more likely to have a moderate to severe health problem than their siblings, say new data from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study. "Most survivors will have future health problems related to their previous cancer therapy, which are likely to increase as they reach their 30s and 40s," said Kevin C. Oeffinger, MD, professor of family medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and the study's lead author.