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Pediatric soft tissue sarcoma survivors at risk for chronic medical conditions
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CHICAGO — Long-term survivors of pediatric soft tissue sarcoma were at a nearly fourfold higher risk for chronic medical conditions compared with their siblings, according to findings presented at the ASCO Annual Meeting.
Emily L. Mueller, MD, assistant professor in the department of pediatric and adolescent comparative effectiveness research of Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, and colleagues evaluated data from 1,246 survivors of 5 or more years and 4,023 of their siblings.
Emily L. Mueller
The retrospective cohort study included children from the Child Cancer Survivor Study who were diagnosed between 1970 and 1986 (median age at diagnosis, 8 years; range, 0-20).
The median follow-up duration was 20 years (1.5-33.9).
OS at the 35-year mark was 82.9%.
Mueller and colleagues observed 243 deaths, 96 of which were due to cancer or subsequent malignant neoplasms.
At 35 years, 54.5% of the cohort had developed one or more grade 3 to grade 5 chronic health condition. Survivors were nearly four times as likely to develop one of these conditions (HR = 3.8; 95% CI, 3.2-4.5) compared with their siblings.
The majority of those conditions impacted the hearing, vision and speech.
Further, survivors who underwent radiation to the brain, head or neck were more likely to experience multiple life-threatening adverse sequelae (HR = 3.3; 95% CI, 1.8-6.4).
Similar outcomes were reported for children who underwent radiation of the pelvis (HR = 4.2; 95% CI, 2.2-7.8) or extremities (HR = 4.2; 95% CI, 2.2-8.1)
“Soft tissue sarcoma survivors are at high risk for late mortality and subsequent malignant neoplasms,” Mueller said. "Radiation exposure increased the risk for multiple severe, life threatening or fatal chronic conditions.” – by Rob Volansky
For more information:
Mueller EL, et al. Abstract 10013. Presented at: ASCO Annual Meeting; May 29-June 2, 2015; Chicago.
Disclosure: Mueller reports no relevant financial disclosures.