Dr. Johannes H. M. Merks and associates at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam compared the occurrence of deformities among 175 children newly diagnosed with cancer, 898 long-term survivors of childhood cancer, and 1,007 healthy schoolchildren.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Children with cancer are more likely than other children to have a variety of deformities, such as droopy eyelids and legs of different lengths, new research shows. This suggests that there are genetic defects or early prenatal environmental factors that influence the occurrence of both problems.
Dr. Johannes H. M. Merks and associates at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam compared the occurrence of deformities among 175 children newly diagnosed with cancer, 898 long-term survivors of childhood cancer, and 1,007 healthy schoolchildren.
The subjects were evaluated for 214 deformities, according to the report, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Major abnormalities were present in 26.8 percent of patients and in 15.5 percent of healthy children; the corresponding figures for minor abnormalities were 65.1 and 56.2 percent. Cancer patients were also significantly more likely to have two or more deformities.
!ADVERTISEMENT!Fourteen deformities were significantly associated with childhood cancer. Among them, droopy eye lids, asymmetric lower limbs, Sydney crease (an abnormal crease on the palm), broad foot, and port-wine stain (a reddish discoloration of the skin) were at least nine times more common in the cancer patients.
Linking such deformities to cancer may help doctors identify children who are prone to developing cancer later on, the authors conclude.
SOURCE: Journal of the American Medical Association, January 2, 2008.
