Papillary Thyroid Cancer in Subjects Who Were Children at the time of the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident

published in Jacobs Journal of Radiation Oncology
2016

Abstract

For the past 30 years, we have raised the question of a possible relationship in Belgium between the occurrence of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and age of children (< 15 y) at the time of the Chernobyl nuclear plant accident in April 1986.

Such a relationship was actually demonstrated from the experience of a surgical team with PTC since the Chernobyl accident.

Radiation exposure affected residents of continental Europe well beyond Ukraine and Belarus. A review of the related scientific literature of the past 30 years demonstrates a persistent higher incidence of PTC among children below 15 at the time of the Chernobyl accident. This relationship with age has been strengthened by the implementation of more sophisticated immunohistochemical technology. Some effective lessons can be drawn for the management of the aftermaths of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident, especially for the long term follow-up of populations living in the regions where the radioactive fallouts occurred.