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patients undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer know the short-term symptoms can be intense: hair loss, fatigue, nausea and vomiting, and mouth sores. but new research suggeststhat lingering longer-term effects — such as cardiac issues and mood disorders — can plague survivors as long as a decade after treatment.
researchers at the university of groningen in the netherlands published a study in the breast, an open-source, peer-reviewed journal, in late september. they followed 350 breast cancer survivors at least five years after diagnosis who were treated with chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy. they were compared against a control group of 350 women who hadn’t experienced cancer and were matched by age and primary care physicians to the survivors.
the results? breast cancer survivors more frequently experienced intermittent claudication — a symptom of poor blood flow that causes muscle aches and pain — and appetite loss.
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it’s not the first time that breast cancer treatment has been linked to heart problems. the breast cancer foundation of new zealand notes anthracyclines, used in chemotherapy, “can reduce the heart muscle’s ability to pump efficiently.”
john hopkins university has also looked at the late effects of breast cancer treatment. kimberly peairs, internal medicine specialist at the johns hopkins healthcare and surgery center, notes that it’s important the primary care physicians are aware of these after treatment has wrapped up. special attention, she says, should be paid to bone health, menopausal symptoms, heart health as well as “any psychosocial side effects” such as depression.
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