Hanford I-131 Releases Did Not Increase Thyroid Cancer Risk

Publication
Article
Oncology NEWS InternationalOncology NEWS International Vol 11 No 8
Volume 11
Issue 8

WASHINGTON-Scientists have concluded that no increased risk of thyroid disease, including cancer, befell children exposed to Iodine-131 released from the Hanford Nuclear Weapons Production Facility in Washington State. According to

WASHINGTON—Scientists have concluded that no increased risk of thyroid disease, including cancer, befell children exposed to Iodine-131 released from the Hanford Nuclear Weapons Production Facility in Washington State. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Hanford Thyroid Disease Study (HTDS) found that the risk of thyroid disease was about the same among study participants regardless of dose levels of radiation they received in the period between 1944 and 1957.

Thyroid disease was found in those exposed, but the rates were essentially the same across all levels of exposure, the CDC said. The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the CDC released the final report of the 13-year HTDS during a community meeting in Richland, near the Hanford facility.

Congress mandated HTDS after the 1988 revelation by the US Department of Energy that large amounts of I-131 were released at the Hanford facility in the 1940s and 1950s, with releases peaking in 1945.

Recent Videos
Findings may help providers and patients with head and neck cancer consider whether to proceed with radiotherapy modalities, such as proton therapy or IMRT.
Study results appear to affirm anecdotal information from patients with head and neck cancer related to taste changes during and after radiotherapy.
Noah S. Kalman, MD, MBA, describes the rationale for using a test to measure granular details of taste change in patients undergoing radiotherapy for HNC.
The use of a single-port robot may allow for surgically treating more patients with head and neck cancer in a more timely manner, according to Hilary McCrary, MD, MPH.
Treatment with toripalimab does not yield the same vascular toxicity seen with pembrolizumab in patients with advanced or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma, according to Barbara Burtness, MD.
Overall survival also appears to improve with toripalimab compared with chemotherapy among patients with metastatic or advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
Related Content