Childhood cancer survivors face heart risks soon after treatment

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Childhood cancer survivors face heart risks soon after treatment

By Bill Berkrot and Ransdell Pierson DALLAS (Reuters) - Children who survive cancer treatment face increased heart health risk and should take measures soon after life-saving therapy to reduce the risk of serious problems later in life, according to research presented at a major medical meeting. The five-year survival rate from childhood cancer has soared from 58 percent in 1975 to 1977, to 83 percent in the period from 2003 to 2009. While earlier research had shown that childhood cancer survivors face heart disease and other potentially serious health problems decades after treatment, a new study found that chemotherapy takes a toll on artery health while survivors are still children, leaving them vulnerable to premature atherosclerosis and heart disease. "We may need to start the clock earlier monitoring these children," said Donald Dengel, lead author of the study presented on Sunday at the American Heart Association scientific meeting in Dallas.

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