Endocrine late effects among survivors of cancer

Multiagent chemotherapy and radiation, particularly alkylating agents and direct radiation to the ovaries, testes, thyroid gland, and hypothalamic pituitary axis are the major causes of endocrine dysfunction in survivors of cancer. Although many of these late effects cannot be reversed, early identification and intervention are imperative to decrease potential adverse changes resulting from gland failure (eg, estrogen depletion). Nurses working with patients who have been treated for cancer must be alerted to the potential for organ dysfunction and should evaluate those patients at high risk in a systematic manner.