TriangleFOR PATIENTS · SOURCE READING
Weight changes and frailty are late effects that are more likely to occur after treatment for certain childhood cancers.
Source: Late Effects of Treatment for Childhood Cancer (PDQ®)–Patient Version, National Cancer Institute.
Source updated: February 12, 2025 · Captured 2026-09-09.
Selected source text with whitespace normalised. This Triangle page is not an NCI PDQ summary. Independent clinical review is pending.
Weight changes include being underweight or having excess body weight or obesity. Frailty is a condition that usually affects older adults and includes having fatigue, slow walking speed, and muscle weakness.
Treatment for these and other childhood cancers may cause a change in weight or frailty:
acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)
brain tumors, especially craniopharyngiomas
Source links and citations
bone tumors
cancers treated with radiation to the brain, including TBI as part of a stem cell transplant
Graft-versus-host disease may also cause a change in weight for patients treated with a stem cell transplant.
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Preserved source evidence · Independent clinical review pending · Not medical advice