RADIATION THERAPY FOR CERVICAL CANCER INCREASES RISK FOR COLO RECTAL CANCER
Researchers at the
University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston are the first to recommend that
young women treated with radiation for cervical cancer should begin colorectal
cancer screening earlier than traditionally recommended.
The UTMB researchers,
finding a high incidence of secondary colorectal cancers among cervical cancer
survivors treated with radiation, offer new recommendations that the younger
women in this group begin colorectal cancer screening about eight years after their
initial cervical cancer diagnosis instead of waiting until age 50. The study is
now online in the journal Medical Oncology.
An estimated 18
percent of malignancies in the United States are secondary cancers that develop
in cancer survivors. Previous studies have indicated that cervical cancer
survivors treated with radiation have an increased risk for second primary
malignancies, yet no preventive recommendations have been established.
The UTMB study
analyzed 64,507 cervical cancer cases collected from 1973-2009 by the National
Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results program. Among
cervical cancer survivors studied, colon, rectum and anus tumors were found to
be two to four times more frequent in the group treated with radiation than in
the group not treated with radiation. A breakdown of the findings include:
More than half (52.6
percent) the cervical cancer patients studied received radiation treatment.
Colon cancer among those treated with radiation began appearing at significantly
higher rates approximately eight years later.
After eight years, the
risk for developing colon cancer was double for women who received radiation
compared to those who had not.
Their risk of rectal
cancer quadrupled after 15 years.
After 35 years, women who
had received cervical cancer radiation therapy were three to four times more
likely to have developed colorectal cancers than women who had not.
"We are confident
from our study that it is time to consider new colorectal cancer screening
strategies for cervical cancer survivors," said UTMB's Dr. Ana M.
Rodriguez, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology and lead author of
the study.
"As more people
are surviving their cancer diagnosis, we need to learn more about the outcomes
10, 20, 30, even 40 years later and how to take care of their long-term medical
needs."
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