Breast Cancer Chemo Side Effects Long Term

Rarely chemotherapy for breast cancer can trigger a secondary cancer such as cancer of the blood cells leukemia several years after the chemotherapy was completed.

Breast cancer chemo side effects long term.

Symptoms may include increasing shortness of breath fatigue and swelling of the feet and ankles. That is always something that needs to be discussed upfront muss noted. However breast fibrosis can also be long term side effect of radiotherapy. Late side effects are symptoms that may appear weeks months or years after treatment ends.

Long term side effects begin during treatment and continue after all treatment is stopped. Breast cancer side effects are symptoms or ailments that develop due to the treatments used or as a result of the disease itself. Rare side effects include heart problems and leukemia. For younger breast cancer patients fertility is an important long term issue.

However you may have some long term side effects. They do not increase breast cancer risk and are not harmful though they can make detecting breast cancer more difficult because your breasts may feel lumpy or ropey. Hearing loss from high doses of chemotherapy especially drugs like cisplatin multiple brand names. It can be hard to plan for or cope with side effects since they vary from person to person.

Chemotherapy and radiation therapy can cause long term side effects to the brain spinal cord and nerves. Chemotherapy carries a small risk of weakening the heart muscle and causing other heart problems. With this drug a possible long term side effect is weakening of the heart muscle resulting in a decreased ability to pump blood through the body heart failure. Common long term side effects of chemotherapy include early menopause weight gain fatigue and cognitive function.