Breast Cancer Risk High in Women Who Undergo Chest Radiation for Childhood Cancer

Women who have undergone chest radiation as a mode of treatment for cancer in childhood have an increased risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer in later years, a new study has found.

The study was led by researchers from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York who used data from a federally funded study that is tracking more than 1,200 women who underwent radiation treatment for cancers during the period between 1970 and 1986.

The researchers found that over 30 percent of the women had developed breast cancer by the time they turned 50 years of age.

"We find that by age 50, approximately 30 percent of women treated with radiation for Hodgkin lymphoma" as girls have developed breast cancer", lead researcher Chaya Moskowitz said.



Source: Medindia