Link between Hodgkin's lymphoma and second cancer

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

People who survive Hodkgin's lymphoma are at risk of going on to develop another cancer later in life.
Hodgkin's lymphoma tends to affect mainly younger people. Now researchers at Princess Margaret Hospital, Ontario, reveal that survivors are at increased risk of developing other cancers as they get older. The study covered nearly 19,000 survivors of Hodgkin's lymphoma followed for 30 years after diagnosis of the disease.

Rates of all cancer types, bar bladder and prostate cancer, were significantly higher than normal. For example, female survivors diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma at the age of 30 had a six fold increase in breast cancer risk. The risk of other forms of cancer were increased up to 20 times. Around the age of 70, the increased risk of a second cancer started to decline, but did not fall back to normal. Because the risk of breast and colorectal cancer was particularly marked among Hodgkin's lymphoma survivors, the researchers suggested that this group ought perhaps to begin screening for these diseases at an earlier age.

Source
Journal of Clinical Oncology online 15th March 2007

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