Researchers probing the effects of radiation exposure among Japanese atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki have discovered that even moderate doses of radiation are associated with an increased risk of benign and malignant nervous system tumors (J Natl Cancer Inst. 2002;94:1555-1563).
Researchers at the Radiation Effects Research Foundation in Hiroshima, Japan, reviewed medical records of more than 80 000 Japanese survivors of the attacks and identified benign and malignant tumors of the nervous system and the pituitary gland that were diagnosed in this group between 1958 and 1995. They found that survivors of the attacks had a 6% greater chance of developing a nervous system tumor over a lifetime.
The risk was especially high for schwannoma—a nonmalignant but dangerous tumor that usually occurs along the nerves of the spine and along the auditory nerve in the brain—for which there was a 40% higher risk than found . . . [Full Text of this Article]
