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Long-term Complications Following Childhood and Adolescent Cancer:
Foundations for Providing Risk-based Health Care for Survivors
Kevin C. Oeffinger, MD and Melissa M. Hudson, MD
Dr. Oeffinger is Professor, Family Practice and Pediatrics,
and Director, After the Cancer Experience Young Adult Program, Department of
Family Practice and Community Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical
Center at Dallas, Dallas, TX. Dr. Hudson is Director, After Completion of Therapy Clinic, Departments of
Hematology Oncology and Behavioral Medicine, St. Jude Children’s Research
Hospital, Memphis, TN.
Survivors of childhood and adolescent cancer are one of the higher
risk populations seen by health care professionals.
The curative therapy administered for the cancer also affects growing
and developing tissues.
Following chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery, many
survivors will experience chronic or late-occurring health problems,
often not becoming clinically apparent until decades after
therapy.
Survivors face an increased risk of morbidity, mortality, and
diminished quality of life associated with their previous cancer
therapy.
Risk is further modified by the survivor’s genetics, lifestyle
habits, and comorbid health conditions.
Over their lifetime, survivors will see health care professionals from
an array of specialties and disciplines.
The aim of this review is threefold:
(1) to convey a sense of the risk faced by survivors to clinicians
unfamiliar with the population;
(2) to provide an up-to-date tool for clinicians, regardless of specialty
or discipline, when providing care for a survivor; and
(3) to complement the recently completed recommendations for
screening, prevention, and management of childhood cancer survivors.
© 2004 American Cancer Society
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