SUMMER 20 15 | C A NCER FIGH T ER S THRI V E 31
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It
is not a recurrence, and it is not a
metastasis (the spread of cancer
from one part of the body to
another). A secondary cancer, or
second primary cancer, is a new cancer that
develops in a person who has had cancer
before.
"It's a different type of cancer," explains
Kamal Patel, MD, Medical Director of
Radiation Oncology at Cancer Treatment
Centers of America
®
(CTCA) in Zion,
Illinois. "A secondary cancer develops at
least two months after primary diagnosis,"
he says. "It's a separate tumor that's very
different from recurrence or metastasis."
Pamela Crilley, DO, Chief of Medical
Oncology at CTCA
®
in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, explains that secondary
cancers can be caused by treatment for
the frst cancer, such as radiation therapy
or certain chemotherapy drugs. She adds,
however, that treatment is not always the
cause. "It is also possible for a patient to
have a second cancer that is unrelated
either to the primary cancer or to the initial
treatment," she says.
Understand your risk of
acquiring a secondary cancer
By Mia James
CAN CANCER
TREATMENTS
CAUSE CANCER?