A report from the Singapore Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (SG-CCSS): A multi-institutional collaborative study on long-term survivors of childhood cancer, initial analysis reporting for the SG-CCSS

Abstract

Introduction: Worldwide, the survival rates among childhood cancer patients are increasing. As such, assessing the risk of late effects and complications are increasingly becoming more important. The degree of risk of late effects may be influenced by various treatment-related factors. Materials and Methods: The Singapore Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (SGCCSS) consists of all individuals who survived at least 2 or more years after treatment for cancer diagnosed during childhood or adolescence. Phase I of SG-CCSS is the identification of all eligible patients between 1981 and 2005. Results: There were a total of 1440 patients registered in the Singapore Childhood Cancer Registry. Among these, 704 (48.9%) patients were from the KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) and 626 (43.5%) were from the National University Hospital (NUH). Of all the registered patients, the most common cancer in childhood was leukaemia [42.6% (n = 613)] and the second most common was brain tumour [14.9% (n = 215)]. A total of 1043 (72.4%) patients were surviving, of whom 839 (80.4%) were long-term survivors. Haematological malignancies were found in 492 (58.6%) survivors whilst 347 (41.4%) were diagnosed with various solid tumours. Among leukaemic patients (n = 613), 65.6% (n = 402) were long-term survivors. Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) (n = 484) had the highest percentage of [80.9% (n = 392)] of surviving patients, of whom 73.4% were long term-survivors. For brain tumour (n = 215), there were 95 (44.2%) long-term survivors. Conclusion: Preliminary analysis revealed that 58.3% of patients were long-term survivors. Our hope is to tailor all future therapy for childhood cancers, optimising cure rates whilst minimising long-term side-effects.