About 20 per cent Of US Cancer Cases Are 'Second' Cancers

It is now the rise of the second cancers that causes worry. With nearly one in five new cancer cases in the US striking patients who have already suffered it, it is a cause of worry, according to newser.

Second cancers could strike a totally new tissue type or site, not a repeat of the original tumor. For instance, Judith Bernstein of suburban Philadelphia is an extreme example. She's suffered from eight types in 20 years---but was cured of them all.

"There was a while when I was getting one cancer diagnosis after another," including breast, lung, esophageal, and the latest: a rare tumor of her eyelids, she says. "At one point I thought I had cancer in my little finger."

So now, in the US, about 19% of cancers are "second-or-more" cases. In the 1970s, it was only 9%, when the number of first cancers rose 70%, while the number of second cancers rose 300%,

Second cancers may be caused due to the same "gene mutations" or factors such as smoking. Some cures that support people to survive the first illness can lead to the risk of a new one later.

Patients can go through a lot of trauma with the illness. "I think it's a lot tougher" for most people, says the director of the federal Office of Cancer Survivorship. Still, if you get a second cancer, "take a deep breath."

After all, cancers are being treated increasingly. "No one's giving up on you," she says.

The causes of cancers and factors that can be taken while treating them can be read at techtimes.