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Consumer Health: Understanding late effects of cancer treatment
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Cancer is the second-leading cause of death in the world. But survival rates are improving for many types of cancer, thanks to improvements in cancer screening and cancer treatment.
As more people are living longer after cancer treatment, more is becoming known about late side effects of cancer treatment. These are side effects of cancer treatment that become apparent after your treatment has ended. Cancer survivors might experience late effects of cancer treatment years later.
Late effects of cancer treatment can come from any of the main types of cancer treatment: chemotherapy, hormone therapy, radiation, surgery, targeted therapy and immunotherapy. As newer types of cancer treatment are developed, such as immunotherapy, doctors may find that these treatments also cause late effects in cancer survivors.
It isn't clear that late effects are preventable or why some people might experience late effects while others don't. Learn more about late and long-term effects of cancer treatment so that you can take more control of your health as a cancer survivor.
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