Historical Review of Cancer Risks in Medical Radiation Workers

摘要

Epidemiologic studies of medical radiation workers have found excess risks of leukemia, skin and female breast cancer in those employed before 1950, but little consistent evidence of cancer risk increases subsequently. Occupational radiation-related dose-response, risk estimates for recent years, and lifetime cancer risk data are limited for radiologists and radiologic technologists and lacking for physicians and technologists performing or assisting with fluoroscopically-guided procedures. Based on data from 80 mostly small studies of cardiologists and substantially fewer studies of physicians in other specialties, estimated effective doses to physicians per interventional procedure vary by more than an order of magnitude. There is an urgent need to expand the limited base of information on average annual occupational radiation exposures and time-trends in doses received by medical radiation workers, to assess lifetime cancer risks of radiologists and radiologic technologists in the existing cohorts, and to initiate long-term follow-up studies of cancer and other radiation-associated disease risks in physicians and technologists performing or assisting with interventional procedures. Such studies will help to optimize standardized protocols for radiologic procedures, determine if current radiation protection measures are adequate, provide guidance on cancer screening needs, and yield valuable insights on cancer risks associated with chronic radiation exposure.