An electron microscopy image of a breast cancer cell

A breast cancer cell Credit: London Enquiry Found EM Unit

Our Science Surgery series answers your cancer scientific discipline questions.

If you have a question that yous'd like usa to answer, ship it to us using the email address at the bottom of this post.

Tommy asked: "Does having had i type of cancer (and cured) make you more susceptible to getting any other blazon?"

To begin answering this question, you have to know the difference between second cancers, which this relates to, and secondary cancers. 2d cancers are those that develop after a person has already had one cancer, and the two diseases are unrelated. Secondary cancers are where a person's cancer comes dorsum or spreads to another part of the body.

At present that more people are surviving cancer, scientists can follow more patients after they've been treated and record their health over time. And this includes seeing if they develop second cancers.

It's this research that'due south answering Tommy'south question. And it seems that the bones reply is 'yes', merely the risk of developing a second cancer is very modest. It too depends on many factors, which we'll now explore in more item.

Cancer drugs

One of the main culprits backside the risk of a 2nd cancer is the blazon of treatment a patient had for their showtime, or primary cancer.

Certain chemotherapy drugs piece of work by fatally dissentious the Dna of fast-growing cells, a characteristic of cancer cells. Merely these drugs can besides inadvertently affect salubrious cells that are naturally dividing in the trunk, such as those in the blood.

This is what causes handling side furnishings. And if the damaged cells don't die, it's possible this damage could lead to these cells becoming cancerous. That's why some chemotherapy drugs accept been linked with leukaemia, a blazon of blood cancer.

Radiotherapy

Radiotherapy also works by inflicting deadly harm to the Deoxyribonucleic acid of cancer cells. While this has become a very precise, sophisticated treatment over the years, the radiation can still damage salubrious cells around the tumour, which could increase the likelihood they one day get malignant.

The take chances from radiotherapy also depends on the amount of radiation given, and where in the body. For case breast cancer patients may accept a college risk of developing lung cancer, as the lungs are near the chest tissue.

Medical imaging

To get a good expect at what'south going on inside a person – whether that's to aid diagnose cancer, or monitor a cancer they've already been diagnosed with – doctors tin use a diverseness of imaging techniques. Some of these, similar x-rays and CT scans, use radiation to create pictures of the torso's inner workings.

These types of scans acquit a very small hazard of damaging salubrious cells which, like to radiotherapy, depends on how much radiation a person has received. But they're an important role of some people's cancer diagnosis and treatment, which is why the benefits outweigh the small potential risks when these scans are necessary.

Other factors

The factors discussed then far chronicle to a person's first cancer. But there are also many other factors that can raise the risk of a second cancer that aren't related in this mode. These include:

  • Genetics: Some people inherit faults in genes that raise their risk of developing a number of different cancers, such as the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes. Then information technology'due south possible that people whose cells carry these faults could develop 2nd cancer as a result of their genes, following handling and recovery from some other cancer caused by the same underlying genetics.
  • Lifestyle and environment: Sure things that fall under these categories, similar smoking, can cause many different cancers. This means that if a person develops one type of cancer because of smoking, such equally bladder cancer, information technology'south possible that the impairment from smoking could lead to another subsequently, like lung cancer.
  • Age: Ageing is the biggest chance gene for nearly cancers. Every bit many of united states of america are living longer, the cells in our bodies have more than time to go amiss as they build upwardly years of wear and tear. Then if a person develops cancer when they're young, unfortunately they'll take a greater risk of developing a second cancer than someone who was diagnosed late in life, simply because they'll be alive for longer after treatment.

The key deviation between these risk factors and others is that the gamble of a second cancer is tied to the person's already heightened risk of developing cancer throughout their life, rather than being linked to their primary cancer.

So what does all of this mean?

This question can't be answered with a simple 'yes' or 'no'.

"Nosotros've known for decades that certain treatments carry risk of developing cancer," says Professor Anthony Moorman, a Cancer Research U.k.-funded scientist working to improve the outlook for blood cancer patients.

"That's why treatment schedules are constantly reviewed and, wherever possible, the intensity of the drugs is reduced in order to minimise the risk of 2d cancer but without reducing the chance of curing the chief cancer."

"Ultimately, not taking cancer handling is going to open up up then many more problems than the minor risk of developing a second cancer"

– Professor Moorman

"Nosotros need to proceed and expand enquiry into the long-term furnishings of cancer therapy because, fortunately, more and more people, especially children, are being cured of their primary cancer and we want them to proceed and savor long healthy lives."

Moorman says that while 2d cancers have been recognised for some time, the risk is nevertheless very small. A contempo written report carried out in Denmark found that the risk of cancer developing in people who accept had cancer before was simply i.one times greater than people who have no history of cancer.

"Ultimately, not taking cancer handling is going to open so many more problems than the small take chances of developing a second cancer," says Moorman. "Taking the recommended treatment is the patients' very all-time risk of surviving."

Justine

We'd similar to thank Tommy for asking usa this question. If you'd like to enquire united states of america something, email sciencesurgery@cancer.org.great britain, leaving your starting time name and location (optional).

Tags