Recently Diagnosed or Relapsed? Stop Looking For a Miracle Cure, and Use Evidence-Based Therapies To Enhance Your Treatment and Prolong Your Remission
Multiple Myeloma an incurable disease, but I have spent the last 25 years in remission using a blend of conventional oncology and evidence-based nutrition, supplementation, and lifestyle therapies from peer-reviewed studies that your oncologist probably hasn't told you about.
Click the orange button to the right to learn more about what you can start doing today.
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Late Effects Kill Cancer Survivors
Late effects can kill Cancer Survivors, might sound a little melodramatic. But according to research linked below, cancer survivors beyond treatment for 20,30,40 years were 2 to 3 times as likely to develop or die from chronic health conditions as their peers.
I say cancer survivors and not childhood cancer survivors because the point of the research is to focus on late-stage side effects, not kids. Meaning, the issue to focus on is the toxicity that cancer patients receive and the damage done 20,30,40 years after treatment.
Why should myeloma patients care? Few MM currently live for more than 10-15 years. But there are a growing number of MM patients who are living more 15,20 years or more. MM survivors undergoing aggressive chemo and/or radiation today may experience serious side effects down the road.
Late and long-lasting effects of cancer treatment
My greatest criticism of conventional oncology is the dismissal of all evidence-based non-conventional therapies. All of my long-term adverse events could have been minimized or completely avoided with non-conventional therapies.
If you’ve undergone radiation or cardiotoxic chemo, for example, you can take steps to manage possible late-stage side effects…today.
Please email me at David.PeopleBeatingCancer@gmail.com to learn more about managing your short, long-term and late-stage side effects from MM treatment.
David Emerson
- MM Survivor
- MM Cancer Coach
- Director PeopleBeatingCancer
Excess Health Risks Linger in Childhood Cancer Survivors Into 50s and Beyond
Key Takeaways
- Childhood cancer survivors over age 50 had a threefold higher mortality risk compared with the general population, primarily from new cancers.
- Survivors had a twofold higher risk of chronic health conditions, tripling for the risk of multiple conditions, compared with their siblings.
- Radiation therapy accounted for 40% of the risk of new cancers, but chemotherapy had no significant associations with late effects.
Older adults who survived childhood cancers continue to die earlier, have more new cancers, and have worse health outcomes compared with the general population, a new analysis of an ongoing study showed.
Survivors older than 50 had a threefold greater risk of dying within 5 to 15 years, most often from development of new cancers. Childhood cancer survivors had more than twice the risk of chronic health conditions and were more than three times as likely to have multiple severe, life-threatening, or fatal chronic conditions, as compared with their siblings.
Much of the excess risk was attributable to childhood treatment with radiation therapy, reported Rusha Bhandari, MD, of City of Hope in Duarte, California, and co-authors in the Journal of Clinical Oncologyopens in a new tab or window.
“We’ve known for some time that we need to be screening these patients differently from what you would screen someone who hasn’t had a history of cancer and treatment, things you don’t usually expect in young individuals, such as heart disease and diabetes,” Bhandari told MedPage Today. “What we didn’t know was whether, when they’re 30, 40 years or more out from treatment, are they still at a higher risk for these conditions?”
“That’s really important for us to know, as we have this growing population of now-older survivors, to understand how best to meet their needs and counsel them regarding their potential risks related to their prior cancer treatment,” she added.
The study is one of the first to provide insight into the health status of and risks for older survivors of childhood cancers, said Tara Henderson, MD, MPH, of Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago.
“This is still a population with significant health risks,” said Henderson, past-chair of the American Society of Clinical Oncology Cancer Survivorship Committee. “What’s interesting is that radiation-induced cancers are driving the risk. It’s really important for the doctors taking care of these patients to understand that they have significant cancer risk and other health risks compared to the general population.”
“We know that 85% of childhood cancer survivors get their care in the community with primary care providers; they’re not getting their care at the cancer center,” Henderson continued. “We’ve done a lot of work looking at what primary care providers need, and they are willing to take care of these patients. They just want to kind of phone a friend at the cancer center if they need to.”
The risks of radiation therapy have been well documented, Henderson acknowledged, and treatment of childhood cancers has evolved to limit exposure. Development of newer, more effective systemic therapies has also helped reduce reliance on radiation therapy. Still, radiation continues to have a significant role in the management of some childhood cancers.
“We don’t want to use it, but we still have to think about cure,” she said. “We’re constantly trying to push that envelope in our clinical trials.”
The study involved data from the national Childhood Cancer Survivor Studyopens in a new tab or window, launched more than 30 years ago to follow childhood cancer survivors for long-term health outcomes. Data analysis included 7,490 survivors older than 50. Outcomes of interest included all-cause and cause-specific mortality, new cancers, chronic health conditions, and health status. Survival was calculated in terms of standardized mortality ratios (SMRs), and new cancers and other conditions were calculated in terms of standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) and relative rates (RRs).
The results showed that 897 patients died after age 50, representing mortality risks of 8.6% at 5 years, 18.4% at 10 years, and 32.7% at 15 years. The mortality rates translated into an SMR of 3.2 (95% CI 3.0-3.4) versus the general U.S. population. Cause-specific mortality was highest among patients with new cancers (SMR 4.7, 95% CI 4.2-5.2).
A subgroup analysis showed that survivors whose treatment did not include radiation therapy had a similar cancer incidence as the general population. The fraction of new cancers attributable to radiation therapy was 40%.
The risk of severe, life-threatening, or fatal chronic conditions was more than twice as high among the cancer survivors as compared with siblings (RR 2.6, 95% CI 2.2-3.1), tripling for the risk of multiple chronic conditions (RR 3.3, 95% CI 2.5-4.4). Again, the risk was highest among survivors whose prior treatment included exposure to radiation therapy. The data showed no association between chemotherapy and late health outcomes.
“This really highlights the importance of a patient having a relationship with a survivorship program as well as their primary care providers,” said Bhandari. “There are still things we need to continue to screen for and be aware of, both in younger and older survivors.”
“As we continue to have this growing population [of cancer survivors], there are implications for our health policy, to make sure that we are equipped to best take care of these patients,” she added.
Late side effects can kill Cancer Survivors Late side effects can kill Cancer Survivors Late side effects can kill Cancer Survivors Late side effects can kill Cancer Survivors