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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 Typically, these mutated cells would simply die off. But growth factors may actually save these cells and allow them to grow into a cancer such as AML, Hershman explained. Or, the growth factors may lead to MDS, the bone marrow problem.
Cancer patients typically receive growth factors because they boost levels of infection-fighting white blood cells. Chemo destroys these infection-fighting cells, and the body can't quickly replace them.
But, Hershman said, questions remain. It's not certain that the growth factors actually caused the AML or MDS, she said. "It might be that people may be more susceptible to developing leukemia if they were more sensitive to the chemo," she said. "The chemo itself could have caused the leukemia."
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The association is certainly "worthy of more research," said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society.
Right now, however, the results "are a not an indication to change the standard of care," he said.
"Your doctor should tell you [growth factors] could cause difficulty later on," Lichtenfeld said. But doctors should also point out that "growth factor drugs have changed the face of cancer chemotherapy," he added. It's also important to note that the study only looked at women aged 65 and older, Lichtenfeld said.
Before these compounds were routinely given, he said, many patients had to be hospitalized as a result of reactions to chemotherapy, or their chemotherapy had to be delayed until they felt better.
Growth factors have been tied in the past to increased risks in breast cancer patients, Lichtenfeld said, but up until now, there was no data to support that suspicion. Hershman's study now provides some proof of a link, he said.
In an editorial accompanying the study, experts form Erasmus University Medical Center Rotterdam in the Netherlands point out that the benefits of chemo may far outweigh any risk of a second cancer.
More information
To learn more about the side effects of chemotherapy, visit the American Cancer Society.
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