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Breast Cancer Survivors Face Other Cancer Risks
摘要：Women who survive a bout with breast cancer are at increased risk of developing cancers of the lung, stomach, and colon, among several others, new research suggests.丹麦研究人员最近公布一项最新研究结果显示，对于那些在与乳腺癌的较量中取得胜利的女性来说，她们患上诸如肺癌、胃癌及结肠癌等其它癌症的可能性会相应有所增加。
Women who survive a bout with breast cancer are at increased risk of developing cancers of the lung, stomach, and colon, among several others, new research suggests.
The elevated risk of other cancers could be due to the treatment given to fight the breast cancer, or perhaps to a genetic predisposition to develop cancer, the researchers believe.
The findings, which appear in an online issue of the International Journal of Cancer, are based on a study of 525,527 women from 13 population-based cancer registries who were diagnosed with breast cancer and followed for other malignancies from 1943 to 2000.
Compared with the general population, breast cancer survivors were 25 percent more likely to develop a second malignancy, lead author Dr. Lene Mellemkjaer, from the Danish Cancer Society in Copenhagen, and colleagues report.
Survivors were at increased risk for stomach cancer, colorectal cancer, lung cancer, soft tissue sarcoma, melanoma, non-melanoma skin cancer, endometrial cancer, ovarian cancer, renal cancer, thyroid cancer, and leukemia. The elevated risks ranged from 22 percent for colorectal cancer to 125 percent for soft tissue sarcoma.
As the time from breast cancer diagnosis increased, so did the risk of a second malignancy. In keeping with this finding, the older a woman was when breast cancer was diagnosed, the less likely was she to develop a second malignancy.
"The excess of cancer after a breast cancer diagnosis is likely to be explained by treatment for breast cancer and by shared genetic or environmental risk factors, although the general excess of cancer suggests that there may be additional explanations such as increased surveillance and general cancer susceptibility," the authors conclude.
丹麦研究人员最近公布一项最新研究结果显示，对于那些在与乳腺癌的较量中取得胜利的女性来说，她们患上诸如肺癌、胃癌及结肠癌等其它癌症的可能性会相应有所增加。
据路透社12月8日报道，具体的研究结果已刊登在《国际癌症杂志》的网络版上。丹麦研究人员从13份基于人口分布状况编制而成的癌症患者登记簿里选出了525527名女性，这些人在1943年到2000年间曾被诊断出患有乳腺癌，之后其身体又出现了其它种类的恶性肿瘤。研究人员认为，她们之所以会出现此种情况，其主要原因应归咎于这些女性在与乳腺癌做斗争时所接受的各种治疗。另外，还有可能是因为从基因角度来讲，那些乳腺癌患者的身体存在着容易罹患各种癌症的倾向。
就职于丹麦癌症协会的莱纳·梅莱姆克耶尔博士是该研究报告的主要执笔人，他与其同事在报告中表示，与普通大众相比，那些乳腺癌治愈者第2次罹患恶性肿瘤的风险要高出25％。她们患上胃癌、直肠癌、肺癌、软组织肉瘤、恶性黑色素瘤及其它种类的皮肤癌、子宫内膜癌、卵巢癌、肾癌、甲状腺癌以及白血病的可能性均会有所增加。其具体增加幅度则从22％（直肠癌）到125％（软组织肉瘤）不等。由于现在被确诊患上乳腺癌的人数呈有增无减之势，所以同样会有更多的人在癌症方面出现“二进宫”的情况。按照该研究报告的说法，一个女人被诊断出患有乳腺癌时的年龄越大，其身体随后出现其它恶性肿瘤的几率也就越小。
研究人员在报告中总结说：“对于一个人在被确诊患有乳腺癌后仍然出现其它种类癌症的情况，或许可以将其归咎于为治愈乳腺癌而不得不去接受的各种治疗，以及这些人所共同面对的基因或环境方面的危险因素。当然，从全体社会公众的角度来看，癌症患者不断增加的原因还有可能存在着其它几种解释，比如有关癌症的诊断手段正变得越来越多而人们对于自己是否患有癌症的敏感度也在日益提高等。”
（张咏）
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