Cancer mortality in a radiation-exposed cohort of Massachusetts tuberculosis patients

Journal Article · Wed Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 1989 · Cancer Research; (USA)

OSTI ID:5183869

Davis, F G; Boice, Jr, J D; Hrubec, Z; Monson, R R ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Illinois, Chicago (USA)

The mortality experience of 13,385 tuberculosis patients treated between 1925 and 1954 in Massachusetts was determined through August 1986. Among 6,285 patients examined by X-ray fluoroscopy an average of 77 times during lung collapse therapy and followed for up to 50 yr (average = 25 yr), no increase in the total number of cancer deaths occurred (standardized mortality ratio (SMR) = 1.05, n = 424). In contrast, the 7,100 patients treated by other means were at significant risk of dying from cancer (SMR = 1.3), especially of sites linked to cigarette smoking and alcohol use. Among the irradiated patients, estimates of mean radiation doses to the breast, lung, esophagus, and active bone marrow were 0.75, 0.84, 0.80, and 0.09 Gy, respectively. Cancers of the breast (SMR = 1.4, n = 62) and esophagus (SMR = 2.1, n = 14) were significantly increased. The risk of esophageal cancer, however, decreased with time since exposure. Lung cancer (SMR = 0.8, n = 69) and leukemia (SMR = 1.2, n = 17) were not elevated. Despite a wide range of doses to the lung, reaching over 8 Gy, there was no evidence of a dose response. Lung cancer risk also did not vary by time since exposure or age at exposure. Adjustment for smoking and the amount of lung tissue at risk did not appreciably modify these findings. These data suggest that frequent exposures to low doses of radiation over a period of several years increase the occurrence of cancer of the breast. When compared with studies of atomic bomb survivors, however, the fractionated exposures experienced by this cohort appear less effective in causing lung cancer than single exposures of the same total dose.

• OSTI ID: 5183869
• Journal Information: Cancer Research; (USA), Vol. 49:21; ISSN 0008-5472
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
BIOMEDICAL RADIOGRAPHY
RISK ASSESSMENT
LUNGS
RADIATION DOSES
NEOPLASMS
RADIOINDUCTION
A-BOMB SURVIVORS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
FRACTIONATED IRRADIATION
MASSACHUSETTS
MORTALITY
PATIENTS
TUBERCULOSIS
BACTERIAL DISEASES
BODY
DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES
DISEASES
DOSES
FEDERAL REGION I
HUMAN POPULATIONS
INFECTIOUS DISEASES
IRRADIATION
MEDICINE
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEAR MEDICINE
ORGANS
POPULATIONS
RADIOLOGY
RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
USA
560151* - Radiation Effects on Animals- Man