Nearly a half of those who survive childhood cancer go on to develop a serious health problem in later life.

Almost eight out of ten of those who have cancer in childhood survive. This is good news - but what of the future consequences to their health?

Doctors at the University of Texas, and elsewhere, have been looking at the long term health of childhood cancer survivors. They have found that those who came through therapy are more likely than average to have problems in general health, mental health, overall functioning and other issues. This is compared to healthy siblings. The study underlines the importance of ongoing health monitoring for those who have survived childhood cancer. It is likely that future health problems come from life-saving treatments - that is, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery.

Source

Journal of the American Medical Association 24th September 2003