New Malignancies Among Cancer Survivors

This volume presents the MD Anderson experience in providing care and services to the rapidly growing population of cancer survivors, which is currently estimated to be 12 million in the United States and more than 25 million worldwide. As cancer survival rates have increased, it has slowly become clear that the challenges faced by people with cancer do not end with treatment but simply change. This book aims to assist community oncologists, physicians, and their staff, who care for the vast majority of cancer survivors, by disseminating models of surveillance for disease recurrence, screening for second primary cancers, education regarding potential late effects of treatment, and psychosocial counseling. These models have proven valuable to cancer survivors who receive care at MD Anderson.

With the risk of more than one in three getting cancer during a lifetime, each of us is likely to experience cancer, or know someone who has survived cancer. Although some cancer survivors recover with a renewed sense of life and purpose, what has often been ignored is the toll taken by cancer and its treatmentâ€"on health, functioning, sense of security, and well-being. Long lasting effects of treatment may be apparent shortly after its completion or arise years later. The transition from active treatment to post-treatment care is critical to long-term health. From Cancer Patient to Cancer Survivor focuses on survivors of adult cancer during the phase of care that follows primary treatment. The book raises awareness of the medical, functional, and psychosocial consequences of cancer and its treatment. It defines quality health care for cancer survivors and identifies strategies to achieve it. The book also recommends improvements in the quality of life of cancer survivors through policies that ensure their access to psychosocial services, fair employment practices, and health insurance. This book will be of particular interest to cancer patients and their advocates, health care providers and their leadership, health insurers, employers, research sponsors, and the public and their elected representatives.

Multimodal treatment lies at the heart of the improvement in cancer cure rates. However, the more aggressive the treatment, the more adverse effects in normal tissues can be anticipated. Against this background, a major paradigm shift has taken place in that there is a new focus on cancer survivorship and quality of life: the life worth saving must be worth living. This volume is based on the CURED II conference held in May 2007, which was attended by scientists from many leading institutions. The volume comprises 18 chapters by leading experts who address a variety of important topics relating to late treatment effects, such as mechanisms and evolution of injury, risk factors, the role of screening, options for interventions, second malignancies, and prevention. It is hoped that it will assist the reader in understanding how to prevent and treat the long-term side-effects of irradiation, thus improving the quality of life of long-term survivors of cancer.

A second primary cancer (SPC) is a new primary cancer developing in a person with a history of cancer at a new site or tissue and subsequent to the initial cancer. Advances in cancer treatment have led to marked improvements in cancer cure rates over the past 30 years, and the control of risk factors has further increased longevity. Still, cancer survivors are at increased risk not only for recurrence of the primary cancer but also for the development of second primary malignancies, the latter being especially true for survivors of childhood cancer. SPCs are now more common, and research into them has intensified.This monograph provides a synthesis of the current research on SPC, culminating in pertinent summary charts, covering the whole spectrum of first and second primary cancers and the association between them. Readers will gain a general understanding of the epidemiology and of the excess risk of SPCs following an implicated first malignancy. The known or suspected etiologic factors for SPCs are identified, and the field is further narrowed to those factors that are modifiable in practice. Effective preventive measures that might reduce the burden of SPC, both for individuals and across at-risk populations, are presented.Providing practical guidance in terms of possibilities and priorities, this monograph will be a valuable tool for oncologists, general practitioners and health administrators.

This book provides the necessary information about not only the clinical aspects of caring for cancer survivors, but also the psychosocial impacts. There are multiple resources available to serve as oncology textbooks, but nothing to provide the necessary information on patient care for the non-MD members of the cancer patient management team. In the post-treatment phase, the management team must go beyond the realm of "conventional" follow-up, helping the patient to intellectually understand and emotionally grasp the path ahead. Cancer Survivorship will prove a vital tool to physicians, nurses, clinical social workers and mental health professionals.

This book is a unique resource on the influence cancer and cancer treatments have on cognition. The majority of cancer patients on active treatment experience cognitive impairments often referred to as 'chemobrain' or 'chemofog'. In addition, patients with primary or metastatic tumors of the brain often experience direct neurologic symptoms. This book helps health care professionals working with cancer patients who experience cognitive changes and provides practical information to help improve care by reviewing and describing brain-behavior relationships; research-based evidence on cognitive changes that occur with various cancers and cancer treatments; assessment techniques, including neurocognitive assessment and neuroimaging techniques; and intervention strategies for affected patients. In short, it will explain how to identify, assess and treat these conditions.