Press Release on Breast Cancer Risk and Radiation

[Mike Grissom <mikeg@SLAC.Stanford.EDU>]

Radsafers,

The following Associated Press item appeared in the
February 13, 1998 issue of the San Mateo County Times:

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RADIATION UPS BREAST CANCER RISK

Associated Press

Atlanta--Girls treated for childhood cancer with chest
radiation are 20 times more likely to develop breast cancer
later in life than other women, and run an extremely high
risk of getting it by their early 20s, a study suggests.

The researchers proposed that these women get their first
mammogram at age 25--15 years earlier than recommended for
most women.

Doctors have long wondered whether childhood cancer survivors
needed special screening because of growing evidence that
they face a higher risk of cancer later on than other people.
Radiation kills cancer cells, but it is also known to damage
other cells, which can, in turn, become cancerous clusters.

The study was published Thursday in the journal Cancer, by
researchers at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in
Memphis, Tenn[essee, USA].

It traced medical records of 3,436 girls treated for cancer
at the institution between 1962 and 1995.  Some had been
diagnosed before age 10.

They found that 12 of these girls later developed breast
cancer, about 20 times the rate of the general female
population.  Four of them, or one-third, developed breast
cancer before age 25--one of them at 12.  Normally, only
0.2 percent of breast cancers occur before age 25.

"That's a phenomenal finding," said Dr. Sue Kaste, an
osteopath at St. Jude and one of the researchers.  "These
are happening at a time when health care providers don't
think of breast cancer occurring."

Six of the 12 women had had radiation treatments as children
for Hodgkin's disease, a cancer of the lymph system.
Radiation is a common treatment for Hodgkin's.

"The sad fact is that these treatments are quite harsh and
can have lasting effects," said Robert Smith, director of
cancer detection at the American Cancer Society in Atlanta.
"But these are individuals who are at high risk of dying
without treatment."

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