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Risk of Secondary Cancer “Exponentially Higher”
“the relative risk of this late effect —(therapy-related secondary cancer)— is exponentially higher than was supposed”
Don’t be surprised if your oncologist turns to you and says “the toxic therapy that I prescribed to save your life has an exponentially higher risk of therapy-related secondary cancer than I thought…sorry, my bad.” But he or she still expects you to pay your bill.
Check that. I don’t believe that any oncologist out there would every cop to the real risk of treatment-related secondary cancer.
After surviving my incurable blood cancer since early 1994, I have learned from the study linked below that I have about a 20-25% chance of developing a therapy-related secondary cancer- annually. And that percentage grows annually.
And a cardiologist told me last week that the chronic atrial fibrilation that I have been living with for the past 8 years is chemotherapy-induced cardiomyopathy.
My point in writing this depressing blog post is
- that chemotherapy is toxic and causes very real short, long-term and late stage side effects. A therapy-related secondary cancer is a key example of this. Therefore you must work carefully with your oncologist to use the bare minimum of the chemo regimen that you need to manage your specific cancer.
- there are evidence-based, integrative theraies shown to reduce the toxicity of whatever chemotherapy you must take.
- there are evidence-based non-toxic therapies shown to reduce the risks of the cancer survivor’s risk of secondary cancers- I know because I pursue these therapies daily.
To Learn More about treatment-related secondary cancers read the posts linked below-
- SCT Secondary Cancer
- Myeloma- Risk of Secondary Cancer
- Multiple Myeloma Side Effects- Secondary Cancers
- Lymphoma-“Risk of Secondary Cancer”
- Primary Cervical Cancer-Secondary Cancer
- Revlimid, Multiple Myeloma, Secondary Cancer
I am a long-term cancer survivor and cancer coach. Painful experience has taught me that cancer patients must fight for both their quality of life and their quantity of life.
What type and stage of cancer have you been diagnosed with? Are you considering an autologous stem cell transplant? What symptoms are you experiencing?
Let me know, thanks.
David Emerson
- Cancer Survivor
- Cancer Coach
- Director PeopleBeatingCancer
Recommended Reading:
- Despite Toxicity Breast Cancer Patients Can Preserve Heart Health
- $ Taints Oncology Research- Always Has, Always Will-
- Cancer Coaching Testimonials- PeopleBeatingCancer
After Chemo, Risk of Tx-Related (secondary cancer) Blood Cancer Higher Than Thought
“Patients treated with chemotherapy for a solid tumor are at much higher risk than was previously thought of developing a highly lethal blood cancer as a result of that treatment.
A research team from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) says that the relative risk of this late effect — therapy-related myelodysplastic syndrome or acute myeloid leukemia (tMDS/AML) — is exponentially higher than was supposed.
The new findings come from an analysis of longitudinal US cancer registry and treatment data for 700,612 patients who received chemotherapy between 2000 and 2013.
In that timeframe, the use of known leukemogenic agents, particularly platinum compounds, in initial chemotherapy has increased exponentially, from 10% in 2000-2001 to 81% in 2012-2013, they note.
“We’ve known for a long time that the development of myeloid leukemia is a very rare adverse effect of some types of cancer treatments that damage cells,” Lindsay Morton, PhD, lead author of the study and a senior investigator in the NCI’s Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, commented in a statement.
“There have been many changes in cancer treatment over time, including the introduction of new chemotherapy drugs and drug combinations, but we didn’t know what the risk of therapy-related leukemia looked like for patients since these changes were made.”
The study found that, by 2014, tMDS/AML had developed in 1619 patients (0.23% of 700,612 patients) who had been treated with chemotherapy for a first primary solid tumor.
Although the cumulative incidence of tMDS/AML was less than 1% for most solid tumor types, the prognosis was poor, the authors note: median overall survival was only 7 months and 78% (1270/1619) of the patients died.
The report was published online December 20 in JAMA Oncology.
Risk Elevated in Many Tumor Types
The analysis showed that the relative risk of tMDS/AML was increased from 1.5-fold to more than 10-fold depending on the type of cancer treated and chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy used.
The risk was observed in 22 of 23 solid cancer types, with the exception of colon cancer.
The relative risks for tMDS/AML were highest (>10) in patients receiving chemotherapy for cancers of the bone, soft tissue, and testes (standardized incidence ratio [SIR], 39.0, 10.4, and 12.3, respectively). These cancers were typically diagnosed in younger patients, the analysis showed.
For patients who received chemotherapy for cancers of the peritoneum, small cell lung, ovary, fallopian tube, and brain or central nervous system, the SIRs were elevated 5- to 9-fold.
For all remaining cancers, with the exception of colon cancer, the SIRs were elevated 1.5- to 4-fold.
For certain first primary tumor types, the analysis also showed that tMDS/AML risks were higher after chemoradiotherapy than with chemotherapy alone.
Expands Number of Survivors At Risk
These new data significantly expand the number of survivor groups at risk of tMDS/AML resulting from previous cancer treatment, the authors note.
Until now, the excess risk for tMDS/AML following chemotherapy has been established only for cancers of the lung, ovary, breast, soft tissue, testis, and brain/central nervous system, they note.
Previous studies of tMDS/AML have relied on a relatively small number of cases taken from case series and case-control studies, the researchers pointed out. The population-based data approach used in the current study made it possible to work with a much larger sample size using prospective data from long-term patient follow-up, they said.
“The most important message from this study is that, while advances in cancer treatment approaches have improved the prognosis for many types of cancer, the number of patients at risk of developing rare, therapy-related leukemia after cancer chemotherapy in the modern treatment era has markedly expanded,” Morton said in an NCI statement.
“Assessments of treatment risks and benefits should balance these risks and other adverse effects of chemotherapy against potential gains in survival following treatment for the initial solid cancer,” Morton added.
“Long-Awaited Study” In an accompanying editorial, Shyam A. Patel, MD, PhD, of the Stanford Cancer Institute at Stanford University School of Medicine, California, said this “long-awaited study” provides oncologists with highly desirable information “because improved survival from primary cancers is associated with increased risk for secondary neoplasms later in life.”
To date, he added, “there have been no risk-assessment models to guide therapeutic decisions about solid tumor chemotherapeutics that carry a high risk for secondary malignant neoplasms within the hematopoietic compartment.”
The findings from the current study may change the way patients need to be screened and managed, Patel told Medscape Medical News. With the recent discovery of clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP), new ways to better stratify risk in patients receiving chemotherapy for solid tumors could help mitigate therapy-related hematologic damage, he said.
Certain subgroups of primary cancer survivors who live long enough to be at risk for therapy-related myeloid neoplasm will benefit from risk stratification.
This includes most patients with early stage, node-positive breast cancertreated with chemotherapy, Patel said.
On the other hand, patients diagnosed at an older age or those with more aggressive primary disease and a less favorable prognosis are unlikely to develop tMDS/AML. “A question that remains is [whether] the risk of tMDS/AML [is] associated with the use of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors,” said Patel.
“Future efforts should be focused specifically on patients who are at highest risk of tMDS/AML,” he writes. “It is critical that risk assessment models for tMDS/AML consider the clonal evolution of subclinical mutations into overt, clinically apparent disease. Risk calculations should be dynamic because the chemotherapy armamentarium for solid tumors will likely change over the years. “