Summer 2018

Compared with patients who had surgery, patients who also had radiation therapy or chemotherapy were at increased risk of heart and circulatory system disorders from one to five years after cancer diagnosis.

Who is at risk? What are the signs? And, maybe most important, how can it be managed to improve a person’s quality of life?

“Since effective cisplatin-based chemotherapy was introduced in the 1970s, the overall age-adjusted five-year relative survival rate is 95 percent, and survivors remain at risk for decades for the late effects of cancer and its treatment,” the study authors wrote.

Compared with the no-neurotoxicity group, survivors in the neurotoxicity group were older and less likely to be employed.

Comments from you, our readers, from the 2018 Summer issue of Heal.

About 40 percent of people with cancer are of working age, and typically have a need to maintain their employment throughout their treatment.

Cancer survivors may appear to have returned to normal, but fatigue can continue to affect quality of life for years.