Long-Term Effects of Chemotherapy: What to Expect

In 2008, doctors diagnosed over 1.3 million new cases of cancer in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society. For some types of cancer, chemotherapy is successful at destroying cancer cells, but the treatment does pose a risk for some long-term side effects.

Significance

• Chemotherapy involves injecting medication into your body that targets and destroys cancer cells, but this medication can also affect other cells in your body.

Time Frame

• Many side effects of chemotherapy disappear after treatment, while some persist for up to one year after or even for life. Other side effects do not develop until years after treatment.

Types of Long-Term Side Effects

• You are likely to feel more tired or to become worn out more quickly for quite some time after chemotherapy ends, according to Cancer Research UK. Additionally, it is normal for the treatment to suppress your immune system, making you susceptible to bacterial, viral and fungal infections for the first few months to one year after treatment.

Risks

• Some patients develop heart and nerve damage and kidney problems due to chemotherapy. Infertility is another unfortunate complication that occasionally occurs with chemotherapy.

Second Cancers

• Some chemotherapy drugs slightly increase your risk for developing cancer again later in life, according to the Mayo Clinic. The most common type of cancers caused by chemotherapy are lymphoma and leukemia.