HEALTH : Leukemia, Chemotherapy Linked

Patients who receive chemotherapy for ovarian cancer and Hodgkin’s disease are at sharply increased risk for later developing leukemia, researchers reported today.

Women who receive chemotherapy for ovarian cancer are apparently 10 to 12 times more likely to develop leukemia in later years than those who only underwent surgery, the researchers said. The risk for leukemia was greatest four or five years after chemotherapy began and remained high for at least eight years after chemotherapy ended, the researchers said.

Patients who undergo chemotherapy for Hodgkin’s disease are apparently nine to 14 times more likely than those who only receive radiation to develop leukemia, the researchers said.