Spleen
Childhood cancer survivors may have late effects that affect the spleen.
Spleenlate effects may increase the risk of life-threatening bacterialinfections.
Late Effects of the Cardiovascular System
Radiation, chemotherapy, and biologic agents, both independently and in combination, increase the risk of cardiovascular disease in survivors of childhood cancer; in fact, cardiovascular death has been reported to account for 26% of the excess absolute risk of death by 45 or more years from diagnosis in adults who survived childhood cancers, and is the leading cause of noncancer mortality in select cancers such as Hodgkin lymphoma (HL).[1,2] During the 30 years after cancer treatment, survivors...
Read the Late Effects of the Cardiovascular System article > >
Certain factors increase the risk that spleen late effects will occur.
The risk of spleen late effects may be increased in childhood cancer survivors who received either of the following:
- Splenectomy (surgery to remove the spleen).
- High-doseradiation therapy to the spleen.
It is very important that childhood cancer survivors who received either of these treatments keep immunizations up-to-date and receive antibiotics before having any dental work.
Spleen late effects may be caused by treatment for childhood Hodgkin lymphoma and other childhood cancers.
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