Irradiation and second cancers. The thyroid as a case in point

Title: Irradiation and second cancers. The thyroid as a case in point
Author: Schlumberger, Martin / Cailleux, Anne-Françoise / Suarez, Horacio G / de Vathaire, Florent

Reference: Comptes Rendus de l’Académie des Sciences – Series III – Sciences de la Vie, 322 (2-3), p.205-213, Feb 1999

doi: 10.1016/S0764-4469(99)80045-6

Keywords: irradiation; thyroid tumours; Chernobyl; RET rearrangements

Abstract: …Radioiodine 131 (1311) used for medical purposes has almost no tumourigenic effect on the adult thyroid gland. The consequences of the Chernobyl accident have clearly shown that the risk of thyroid cancer after exposure to 1311 in childhood is important, and that such exposure should be prevented by potassium iodine prophylaxis. RET/PTC rearrangements are found in 60–80 % of papillary carcinomas and in 45 % of adenomas occurring after radiation exposure. They are found in 5–15 % of papillary carcinoma and in no follicular adenomas that occurred in the absence of radiation exposure.

URL:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0764446999800456