Later life risk for patients with Hodgkin's disease

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Patients who survive Hodgkin's disease go on to have a four times higher risk of stroke in later life.
It is already known that those who survive Hodgkin's disease have an increased risk of a second cancer and of heart failure. Now a team at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center reveals an additional risk - of stroke. This was previously unsuspected.

The researchers identified nearly 2,000 people who had survived Hodgkin's disease for more than five years after being diagnosed between 1970 and 1986. Of these 24 had a stroke. This is compared to only nine individuals in a group of 3,800 siblings of cancer survivors. The next question is to look at whether reducing the amount of radiation used in the treatment of Hodgkin's disease could decrease the risk of stroke in later years.

Source
Journal of Clinical Oncology online 13th October 2005