Childhood Cancer survivors have high-risk of recurrent stroke

A new study from the UC San Francisco Pediatric Brain Center shows that childhood cancer survivors suffering one stroke have double the risk of suffering a second stroke, when compared with non-cancer stroke survivors. The study found that the main predictors of recurrent stroke were cranial radiation therapy, hypertension and older age at first stroke - factors that could help physicians identify high-risk patients.
The findings provide strong evidence for adjusting secondary stroke prevention strategies in these patients, and to aggressively detect and treat modifiable stroke risk factors, such as hypertension.
"We are at a point where more children are surviving cancer because of life-saving interventions," said Sabine Mueller, MD, PhD, director of the UCSF Pediatric Brain Tumor Center in UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital San Francisco and co-author of the study. " Now, we are facing long-term problems associated with these interventions."The researchers analyzed retrospective data from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (CCSS), which has followed 14,358 survivors diagnosed between 1970 and 1986 in the United States and Canada to track long-term outcomes of cancer treatment.
Of the 271 respondents who reported having had a stroke, 70 also reported a second one. Overall, the rate of recurrence within the first 10 years after an initial stroke was 21% , which is double the rate of the general population of stroke survivors. The rate was even higher, 33% , for patients who had received cranial radiation therapy.