Thyroid diseases around Chernobyl: from autoimmune diseases to malignant tumors

摘要

Both an increased incidence of thyroid carcinoma mainly of the papillary histotype and to a lesser extent, of autoimmune phenomena have been observed, several years after external irradiation to the head and the neck, in subjects treated for various non-thyroidal disorders, in atomic bomb survivors in Japan, and in residents of the Marshall Island exposed to radiation during the testing of hydrogen bombs. More recently, the exposure to radioactive fallout as a result of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident has clearly confirmed the causal association of radiation exposure and the development of thyroid autoimmune phenomena in the population exposed to radiation. This article will review the most significant features of thyroid diseases associated with the post-Chernobyl radioactive contamination.