Late effects of cancer treatments

Abstract

With continued advances in strategies to detect cancer early and treat it effectively, along with the aging of the population, the number of individuals living years beyond a cancer diagnosis can be expected to continue to increase. Statistical trends show that, in the absence of other competing causes of death, 64% of adults diagnosed with cancer today can expect to be alive in 5 years. Relative 5-year survival rates for those diagnosed as children (age less than 19 years) are even higher, with almost 79% of childhood cancer survivors estimated to be alive at 5 years and 75% at 10 years. © 2006 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.