Examination of late pulmonary toxicity in children treated for malignancies

Abstract

The present investigation was based on a survey in 2005, in which the authors found pulmonary function abnormalities in survivors of childhood cancer, who were treated with anticancer therapy. The purpose of the present study was to follow-up childhood cancer survivors and detect late pulmonary toxicity. Lung function test was performed with spirometry in 26 survivors participated in this study (10 females and 16 males; mean age, 19.4 years at the time of the second follow-up evaluation). The average time periods from treatment until the first and second follow-up evaluation were 4.5 and 10 years, respectively. The authors found 14 patients with pathological pulmonary function tests results at the time of the first follow-up evaluation, from which 7 patients had obstructive, 5 patients had mixed and 2 patients had restrictive abnormalities. However, there were only 6 patients who had abnormal pulmonary function at the time of the second follow-up evaluation (2 patients with obstructive and 4 patients with restrictive pulmonary function tests (p<0.05). Restrictive pulmonary disorder was detected in only small part of the treated patients. The obstructive pulmonary abnormalities caused by the treatment showed an improving tendency over time.