Damocles' syndrome

A state of long-term uncertainty, stress and anxiety experienced by the patients and families of children treated for leukemia, as only 50% are cured and up to 10% of successfully treated patients suffer future—often lymphoproliferative—malignancies, resulting in a state of uncertainty fancifully likened to that of Damocles, the mythical figure who was forced to sit under a sword suspended by a hair

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Damocles' syndrome

Pediatric oncology A state of long-term uncertainty, stress and anxiety experienced by the Pts and families of children treated for leukemia, as only 50% are cured and up to 10% of successfully treated Pts suffer future–often lymphoproliferative–malignancies. See Leukemia.

McGraw-Hill Concise Dictionary of Modern Medicine. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.