THYROID CANCER FOLLOWING IRRADIATION FOR MEDULLOBLASTOMA
Two cases of thyroid carcinoma, appearing 7 and 11 years after therapeutic irradiation for medulloblastoma, are presented. Only 3 additional cases of thyroid cancer following irradiation for cancer were found in the literature, as contrasted to 282 in patients treated for benign conditions. At present, this sequence appears largely limited to children and young adults, but there is histologic evidence that the adult human thyroid is not invulnerable to irradiation. Further search may show irradiation histories to be more common in adult thyroid cancer patients than has so far been demonstrated. The fact that the irradiation was given for benign conditions in nearly all the cases reported to have developed thyroid cancer subsequently is inconclusive in the absence of epidemiologic data on radiation therapy usage. However, analogies to radiation carcinogenesis in animal thyroid glands suggest that differences in irradiation technique, such as dose and time patterns, might play some part. The problems discussed here indicate a need for more diligent search for irradiation histories in cancer patients, more critical examination of irradiated patients for possible neoplasms, and more detailed reporting of radiation factors in cases of suspected radiation injury. (auth)
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; and Children's Hospital of Buffalo
- NSA Number:
- NSA-17-013996
- OSTI ID:
- 4734867
- Journal Information:
- Am. J. Roentgenol., Radium Therapy Nucl. Med., Vol. Vol: 89; Other Information: Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-63
- Country of Publication:
- Country unknown/Code not available
- Language:
- English
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