Survivors face other cancer risks

Women who survive a bout with breast cancer are more likely to develop cancers of the lung, stomach and colon, among others, research suggests.

The elevated risk of other cancers could be the result of the treatment given to fight the breast cancer, or perhaps of a genetic predisposition to develop cancer, researchers believe.

The findings, which appear in an online issue of the International Journal of Cancer, are based on a study of 525,527 women from 13 population-based cancer registries who were diagnosed with breast cancer and followed for other malignancies from 1943 to 2000.

Compared with the general population, breast cancer survivors were 25 per cent more likely to develop a second malignancy, lead author Dr Lene Mellemkjaer, from the Danish Cancer Society in Copenhagen, and colleagues report.

Survivors were at higher risk for stomach cancer, colorectal cancer, lung cancer, soft-tissue sarcoma, melanoma, non-melanoma skin cancer, endometrial cancer, ovarian cancer, renal cancer, thyroid cancer and leukaemia.

The elevated risks ranged from 22 per cent for colorectal cancer to 125 per cent for soft-tissue sarcoma.

As the time from the breast cancer diagnosis increased, so did the risk of a second malignancy.

In keeping with this finding, the older a woman was when breast cancer was first diagnosed, the less likely she was to develop a second malignancy.

- REUTERS