Sekundarni maligni tumor debelega črevesja po zdravljenju raka v otroštvu

The risk of developing secondary colon cancer is larger in patients treated for childhood cancer than in the general population, and it is rapidly increasing with observation time and increased radiation dose to the abdominal area. A patient, who was successfully treated for Hodgkin’s disease at the age of 12 with chemotherapy and radiation of the affected regions, including para-aortic lymph nodes, was diagnosed with microcytic hypochromic anaemia 27 years after treatment. A suspicion that this is gastrointestinal haemorrhage was not confirmed by a single-stool examination. Half a year later, the patient was found with metastatic adenocarcinoma of the colon and was treated operatively with systemic treatment and palliative radiation of spinal and brain metastases. A year and a half after the start of treatment of secondary tumour, the patient died at the age of 40 years. Patients treated for childhood cancer experience several late consequences. Secondary malignant tumours are the second most common cause of death, right after disease recurrence. Therefore, timely detection and appropriate treatment are of utmost importance. Since 2014, the international guidelines recommend that patients receiving 30 Gy or more to the abdominal region are monitored by colonoscopy. A single-stool examination for occult blood and US of the abdomen are not reliable methods for detecting colon cancer.