Cancer risk following treatment of childhood cancer

The study of long-term effects of therapy for childhood cancer is important for several reasons. An increasing proportion of children are now cured of their cancer and can expect to live many years, during which the long latency period of carcinogenesis can be expressed more readily than following treatment of adult cancers. Also, in children there are fewer confounding exposures that may contribute to cancer etiology, so the late effects of therapy can be evaluated more easily than in adults. Many pediatric tumors also appear to have a heritable component that may account for some second cancers or may enhance the carcinogenic effects of therapy