27 years after Chernobyl cancer consequences accounted for

Chernobyl: Long-term study shows high survival rate in thyroid cancer

04/26/2013

Decades after the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl, many people are still suffering the consequences. A now published long-term study of the research team led by Professor dr. However, Christoph Reiners from the University Hospital Würzburg shows that at least the thyroid cancers in children after the nuclear accident - despite their severity - were often relatively well treated.

Together with scientists from Minsk (Belarus) had the Würzburg researchers „229 children and adolescents with thyroid cancer observed from 1992 to 2012“, so the message of the University Hospital Würzburg. All children received radioiodine therapy in Germany after their tumors had previously been surgically removed in Belarus. „ All study participants were considered high-risk patients because they had received very high doses of radiation during the Chernobyl accident“, the researchers write.

27 years after the disaster
Exactly 27 years ago, on April 26, 1986, an explosion occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, releasing large quantities of radioactive material into the environment. The contamination reached into the neighboring countries. Thus, in the years after the nuclear disaster in children and adolescents in Ukraine, Belarus and the west of Russia increased thyroid cancer on. Although these were often particularly severe, most of those affected survived until today, according to the results of the study by Prof. Dr. med. Reiners and colleagues.

Thyroid cancer cured in most cases
„Most people develop a tumor that appears to be more aggressive in children than in adults“,but hit „the therapy is good in almost all patients“, reports the University Hospital in its press release. Your study has the researchers in the journal „Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism“ released. There they come to the conclusion that even if one „Radiation-induced thyroid carcinoma is already well advanced and was initially treated suboptimal, the results of subsequent radioiodine therapy are usually favorable.“ Despite the high risk, the tumors had completely receded in 64 percent of the study participants and in another 30 percent have the radioiodine therapy led to an almost complete regression. Thanks to the post-treatment with thyroid hormones, which is in any case necessary, the cancer did not recur even today. One patient died from a side effect of cancer therapy, called pulmonary fibrosis, and relapses occurred in only two patients, the researchers report.

Hope for radiation victims in Fukushima
Even though „Although many of the patients did not receive optimal treatment at the beginning of their illness, they still recovered from advanced tumors“, explained the nuclear medicine professor Professor Christoph Reiners. It should be understood as far advanced that the cancer had already affected the lymph nodes (in 97 percent of those affected) and metastasized in almost half of the affected metastases in the lungs. Nevertheless, almost all patients were rescued. These findings are encouraging for other radiation victims, such as currently in Fukushima (Japan). There, in the course of the meltdown of several reactors in 2011, an even higher radiation dose was released than in Chernobyl. In addition, the region is much more densely populated than the Chernobyl area. Here is at least to be expected with a similar number of cancer cases, as in the Soviet Union, according to the expert.

Lessons from Chernobyl?
However, in Japan „rapid evacuation and other countermeasures, such as food control, have greatly reduced the risk to children and adolescents around Fukushima“, explained Professor Reiners. Here, the lesson from Chernobyl must be that the endangered children and adolescents are watched with particular care for thyroid cancer, „because the chances of recovery are better if the disease is recognized as early as possible.“ According to the expert, corresponding screening programs have already started in the region of Fukushima. (Fp)

Also read:
After Chernobyl: 600 million people affected
How much radioactive radiation is harmful?
Seven iodine storage facilities provide emergency care
How dangerous is radioactive radiation?
Iodine tablets in Germany inappropriate
Health: long-term consequences of radioactive radiation
Radioactive Radiation: Health Effects

Picture: Andreas Kinski