This Article Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: theoncologist.2008-0104v1 13/11/1181    most recent eLetters: Submit a response to this article Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services E-mail this article link to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints/Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Landier, W. Articles by Bhatia, S. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Landier, W. Articles by Bhatia, S.

Cancer Survivorship: A Pediatric Perspective

^aDepartment of Population Sciences, City of Hope Cancer Center, Duarte, California, USA

Key Words. Childhood cancer survivors • Late effects • Evaluation for late effects • Long-term follow-up guidelines

Correspondence: Correspondence: Smita Bhatia, M.D., M.P.H., Population Sciences, City of Hope National Medical Center, 1500 East Duarte Road, Duarte, California 91010, USA. Telephone: 626-471-7321; Fax: 626-301-8983; e-mail: sbhatia{at}coh.org

Received May 13, 2008; accepted for publication October 6, 2008.

ABSTRACT

The last four decades have seen tremendous improvements in the survival of children diagnosed with cancer, with 5-year survival rates now at 80%. The burgeoning population of childhood cancer survivors creates an obligation to understand the health and well-being of these individuals. The use of cancer therapy at an early age can produce complications that may not become apparent until years later; it has been demonstrated quite conclusively that approximately two thirds of these survivors will experience at least one late effect and about one third will experience a late effect that is severe or life threatening. Long-term complications in childhood cancer survivors, such as impairment in growth and development, neurocognitive dysfunction, cardiopulmonary compromise, endocrine dysfunction, renal impairment, gastrointestinal dysfunction, musculoskeletal sequelae, and subsequent malignancies, are not only related to the specific therapy employed, but may also be determined by individual host characteristics. This review describes some of the known late effects described in childhood cancer survivors in order to suggest reasonable starting points for evaluation of specific long-term problems in this unique and growing population.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				T. B. Haddy, R. B. Mosher, and G. H. Reaman Late Effects in Long-Term Survivors After Treatment for Childhood Acute Leukemia Clinical Pediatrics, July 1, 2009; 48(6): 601 - 608. [Abstract] [PDF]