Screening for Chemotherapy Adverse Late Effects

Chemotherapeutic agents are the primary treatment of many solid (breast, bone, brain, and lung) and hematological malignancies (leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma). Because these drugs are not specific for cancer cells, healthy, rapidly dividing cells can also be damaged by chemotherapeutic agents, and such damage manifests itself in the form of chemotherapy short- and long-term adverse effects. The increased survival rate for patients with cancer has led to the recognition that adverse effects associated with chemotherapy regimens may appear or persist months to years after chemotherapy has been completed. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to highlight the late adverse effects of the most common chemotherapeutic agents, present screening tools that can suggest the presence of these adverse effects, and then briefly describe rehabilitation considerations with case study examples.