Study: Radiation Therapy Does Not Increase Risk of Thyroid Cancer

Women with breast cancer who are treated with radiation therapy do not appear to be at an increased risk of developing cancer of the thyroid, according to researchers at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

Notwithstanding concerns that radiation scattered from breast cancer treatment might affect the nearby thyroid gland, researchers reported in the journal Cancer that there appears to be no cause for concern and no need to closely monitor these patients for thyroid cancer.

Researchers studied nearly 195,000 women who were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer over a 20-year period. One fourth of the women received radiation therapy within the first four months after diagnosis.

"The risk of radiation-associated thyroid carcinoma after initial radiotherapy for breast carcinoma was so low as to be undetectable in the current…study," the researchers reported..

Researchers also suggest that removing the thyroid of women who develope thyroid nodules following radiation therapy for breast cancer also may not be necessary.

Other Sources: Cancer