Late effects of radiation therapy in pediatric patients and survivorship

Advances in multimodality therapy have led to childhood cancer cure rates over 80%. However, surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy may lead to debilitating or even fatal long-term effects among childhood survivors beyond those inflicted by the primary disease process. It is critical to understand, mitigate, and prevent these late effects of cancer therapy to improve the quality of life of childhood cancer survivors. This review summarizes the various late effects of radiotherapy and acknowledges the Pediatric Normal Tissue Effects in the Clinic (PENTEC), an international collaboration that is systematically analyzing the association between radiation treatment dose/volume and consequential organ toxicities, in developing children as a basis to formulate recommendations for clinical practice of pediatric radiation oncology. We also summarize initiatives for survivorship and surveillance of late normal tissue effects related to radiation therapy among long-term survivors of childhood cancer treated in the past.