Section 7: Side effects and supportive care

Avascular necrosis (AVN) of the bone is a rare but serious complication of cancer treatment.

Children or young people with cancer may require blood product support throughout their journey. This may be due to the effects of chemotherapy or radiotherapy or as a consequence of the disease process itself.

Peripheral neuropathy is a condition we are most likely to see in children or adolescents who are having treatment for cancers that involve multiple doses of vincristine (a neurotoxic agent) such as acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL).

This page provides an overview of the main side effects of chemotherapy.

Nausea and vomiting (emesis) can be two of the most debilitating side-effects of chemotherapy and they can cause considerable distress to the child or adolescent and their family.

Constipation is a common symptom in children receiving palliative care.

Children and young people who are febrile have direct access back to their respective cancer centre.

Children and adolescents with cancer are more at risk of infections because of the disease itself and also because of the treatment, both of which can affect the immune system.

Approximately 60% of survivors will have a problem or late effect related to their treatment. For some, these can require minimum interventions, but for others it may be far greater.

Mucositis, or inflammation of the mucous membranes (linings of the mouth and gut), is a common side-effect of cytotoxic chemotherapy.

The aim of this section is to give you an overview of nutrition specifically for children and adolescents with cancer and direct you to further information and resources.

The page provides list of risk factors associated with steroid induced myopathy and describes the pathophysiology. It will discuss the clinical presentation of patients suffering from steroid-induced myopathy and includes a list of common signs and…

Children and adolescents receive doses of up to 10mg/m² of steroids for 14 days on certain leukaemia and lymphoma protocols and patients with brain tumours also may have a lot of steroids.