[ RadSafe ] Overdiagnosis of thyroid cancer

[Franz Schönhofer]

Dear Michael, dear RADSAFErs,

Having been involved in the aftermath of "Chernobyl" I remember very well 
that thyroid cancer diagnoses increased in the years following the accident 
in the most affected areas close to the power plant, but I am not aware of 
any rise reported in my homecountry Austria, though it was one of the most 
affected countries. Furthermore I do not remember any horror messages on 
enhanced numbers of thyroid cancers in the vicinity of Fukushima. This is 
surprising, because this should be a preferred topic for our "UNITED ANTIS".

Already at the conference "10 years after Chernobyl" at the IAEA in Vienna 
there was talk about that the many ailments of the population living near 
Chernobyl were a consequence of malnutrition and lack of essential 
constituents of food like vitamins and proteins. Already there and more 
intensively following the conference it was a common view among scientists, 
that the rise of numbers of diagnosed thyroid cancers was due to intensivied 
checks for it among a population which never had access before to good 
medical care. So it would be clear for any medium intelligent human being 
that this is a co svincing coincidence - as I see from this paper it seems 
not to be among our "UNITED ANTIS" -"scientists". Logical thinking seems not 
to be their strength.

I have been a few years after the Chernobyl accident in Kiev - not as a 
tourist!!- - and I would recommend anybody who comments on the accident to 
go there for a few weeks to learn a little about the country and the 
circumstances people live there. Probably they would better understand the 
situation there after the accident.

One cannot expect a health care system like in Austria which is BTW much 
better than the US one. One cannot expect supplies of food like in Western 
countries. I believe that before condemning or even judging another country 
one should know this country and the people living there a little better.

I cannot resist to gratulate our US RADSAFErs that their election of their 
president is over - we read every day pages in Austrian (!!!) newspapers 
about the latest news and opinion polls on the outcome of the elections. 
Later the
subject. Now it has changed to news about the election of the Austrian 
president which will take place the day after tomorrow. The Austrian 
president has no power, not to mention that we have no bombers, no airplane 
carriers, not even any access to any ocean.

Good luck and return to everyday work and science! Best wishes!

Franz



.-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- 
From: Brooks, Michael
Sent: Thursday, December 01, 2016 12:50 PM
To: radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu
Subject: [ RadSafe ] Overdiagnosis of thyroid cancer

Just published:
Association between screening and the thyroid cancer "epidemic" in South 
Korea: evidence from a nationwide study
BMJ 2016; 355 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i5745 (Published 30 
November 2016)Cite this as: BMJ 2016;355:i5745

http://www.bmj.com/content/355/bmj.i5745


Regards,

Michael

Michael Brooks, PhD
Head of Diagnostic Radiology Physics
Medical Physics
Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Longfleet Road
Poole
UK

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