Side effects of treatment
Intermediate and high risk groups
Late side effects after treatment
Children surviving longer than 5 years are still at risk of recurrent disease as late recurrences do occur. They may experience ongoing side effects of cancer treatment into adult life because of the intensive treatment they have had. A number of treated children may have the following on-going problems after their cancer treatment -:
- Heart problems.
- Kidney dysfunction or failure.
- Hearing problems.
- Fertility problems.
- Reduced bone growth (if radiotherapy has been used).
- Increased risks of other cancers.
- Residual neurological defects if neuroblastoma was para-spinal, including weakness in the legs, limping, paralysis or bladder and bowel problems, including incontinence due to nerve compression.
High risk group
This group undergo intensive and prolonged therapy. During chemotherapy and stem cell transplant typical side effects are -:
- Nausea.
- Diarrhoea.
- Stomatitis (inflammation of the mucous lining of any of the structures in the mouth) and mucositis (any inflammation of a mucous membrane).
- Weight loss and nutritional insufficiency.
- Hair loss.
- Increased risk of infection, which can be life threatening.
- Bruising and bleeding requiring blood product support.
- Extreme tiredness and debilitation.
There will be periods of immunosuppression where the child is at high risk of infection and will be unable to go out in public or see other children. Treatment and full recovery including return to school full time in this group is likely to take up to 1 to 2 years. 5 year survival in this group is 30 to 50%, this means despite having undergone intensive treatment many children will experience recurrent disease and the majority of these recurrences and deaths occur in the 4 years following diagnosis.
