Swiss researchers report a study of almost 10,000 breast cancer survivors found them to have only about a 15 percent higher than normal risk of developing a different type of cancer later in life.

Specific cancers that appeared to occur somewhat more often among the breast cancer survivors than among the general population included cancers of the endometrium, ovaries, gallbladder, kidneys and lymphomas and leukemias.

The breast cancer patients appeared most susceptible to developing a later case of soft tissue sarcoma, which includes cancers of the muscles, fat, blood vessels, and most of these cases developed in the participants' thorax, shoulder and pelvis -- areas that may have been irradiated during breast cancer treatment.

These cancers "are probably the late consequences of radiotherapy," the researchers concluded.

But overall, they concluded that women treated for breast cancer have only a "modestly" higher additional risk of later developing another type of cancer.

Other sources: Annals of Oncology