Is chemo 100% safe?
No! A report in the Feb. 4 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine concludes that women who were treated for ovarian cancer with platinum-based chemotherapy (cisplatin or carboplatin) have a two to eight times greater chance of developing leukemia. Larger doses and longer treatments resulted in higher risks of leukemia. Although a number of small case reports have linked platinum-based chemotherapy regimens to secondary leukemia, this is the first large-scale, multinational study to quantify the risk. Platinum compounds have served as standard treatment for ovarian cancer for two decades and are also used to treat other cancers including testicular, bladder, lung, endometrial, and head and neck cancers.
