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Living a long time with cancer may be good for the family, but the patient's body experiences long term effects of radiation treatment. 

For many pediatric cancer patients, total body irradiation (TBI) is a necessary part of treatment during bone marrow transplant and is a key component of long term survival. 

But according to the University of Colorado Cancer Center, lengthened survival creates the ability to notice long term effects of radiation as these youngest cancer patients age. 

The study was published in the journal Pediatric Blood & Cancer. 

The paper's first author Jean Mulcahy-Levy said these kids basically lie on a table and truly do get radiation from head to toe and there is a little blocking of the lungs, but nothing of, for example, the brain or the kidneys. 

Researchers observed 15 patients who received TBI before age 3. 

They found that 78 percent developed endocrine and metabolic problems including testicular malfunction, 74 percent developed restrictive pulmonary disease due to high levels of blood triglycerides and 78 percent developed cataracts. 

Mulcahy-Levy said the number of patients used in the study shouldn't be taken lightly. 

"Fifteen doesn't seem like a large number, but because we have such a good pediatric bone marrow transplant program here at Children's Hospital Colorado and radiation therapy program at the CU Cancer Center, we were able to get a large enough cohort of patients to see these overall effects," Mulcahy-Levy said.

Mulcahy-Levy  and her team found that 90 percent of patients showed abnormally low levels of growth hormone, and 71 percent were considerably under height. 

Late effects of TBI included kidney, liver, skeletal and cardiac malfunction - and three of four patients whose IQ had been tested before TBI showed cognitive decline.

Mulcahy-Levy said she hopes that increasing awareness of likely effects will help patients and their doctors screen for, detect, and correct likely effects of TBI.

"It's not so much that you want to stop TBI, which is frequently a necessary part of treatment, but this study shows it's important know about these problems in order to address them appropriately and proactively," Mulcahy-Levy said.

The Children's Oncology Group recommends long term follow up care for children receiving TBI. For more information on the recommendations, visit survivorshipguidelines.org.