Surviving childhood cancer: the hidden threat of second malignancies.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review without systematic methodology or original human data
PubMed 41896953 · doi:10.1186/s40644-025-00933-6
What was done
This narrative imaging review examined the risk factors, common types, surveillance imaging approaches, and risk-mitigation strategies for second malignant neoplasms (SMNs) in pediatric cancer survivors.
What was found
The review notes that SMNs account for nearly half of non-relapse deaths among long-term pediatric cancer survivors. Key reported risk factors include chemotherapeutic agents, radiation therapy, hereditary cancer syndromes, and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, with common SMNs comprising leukemia, thyroid cancer, sarcoma, and breast carcinoma. No additional quantitative data or effect sizes were reported in the abstract.
Why it matters
It emphasizes that late treatment-related toxicities remain a major cause of late mortality in childhood cancer survivors, highlighting the importance of structured lifelong imaging surveillance and risk-mitigated initial therapies.
Limits
This is a narrative review with no original patient cohort, meta-analysis, or systematic search methodology reported. The abstract provides no specific diagnostic accuracy statistics for surveillance imaging protocols.
Cited by
- supports Radiation and chemotherapy treatments are major risk factors for cancer recurrence or the development of secondary cancers.