Cancer Fighters Thrive

SUMMER 2015

Cancer Fighters Thrive is a quarterly print and online magazine bringing readers practical, innovative and inspirational information about cancer treatment and survivorship.

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SUMMER 20 15 | C A NCER FIGH T ER S THRI V E 31 C A NCERFIGHTER S THRI V E .COM 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?

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