Survivors of pediatric cancer face nine times the normal risk for developing a sarcoma at least five years after treatment for the initial cancer, a new study reveals.
The risk for developing sarcoma -- a cancer of the connective or supportive tissue -- is particularly elevated among patients with a family history of cancer or whose primary childhood bout was a form of sarcoma, a bone tumor or Hodgkin lymphoma, the researchers found.
The use of radiation and certain kinds of chemotherapy drugs was also associated with higher sarcoma risk.