According to a population-based study in Japan, there has been a steady rise in therapy-related acute myeloid leukemia (tAML) rates in recent years, notably following breast cancer treatment, a study revealed on Monday.

Wiley released the results online in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal published by the American Cancer Society. According to the study, certain cancer treatments may raise the likelihood of acquiring blood-related cancers in the future.

“tAML” is a violent malignancy of the blood and bone marrow that manifests itself following previous chemotherapy or radiation for a prior, primary cancer, most likely caused in part by DNA damage brought on by these therapies.

According to the study’s lead author, Kenji Kishimoto, of the Osaka International Cancer Institute, “The study provides an important step towards better understanding how the nature of tAML is changing with the increasing number of cancer survivors. ”

Researchers examined data from the Osaka Cancer Registry in Japan for individuals who were diagnosed with AML between 1990 and 2020 in order to determine if the incidence of “tAML” as a complication of post-cancer therapy is rising along with the number of cancer survivors.

Out of about 9,841 people who had AML, 636 (6. 5%) had tAML. In 2020, the annual incidence of tAML rose from 0. 13 cases per 100,000 persons in 1990 to 0. 36 cases per 100,000 persons. The percentage of tAML cases out of all cases of AML nearly doubled.

The most common primary cancer that was treated prior to the onset of tAML was another form of blood cancer (23. 1%), followed by breast cancer (14. 6%), colorectal cancer (11. 5%), and stomach cancer (8. 7%).

According to the study, the distribution of primary tumors changed over time, with a notable rise in breast cancer and a decline in stomach cancer.