Radiation induced cancer: a report of 10 cases

Ionizing radiations have been shown to be carcinogenic to man as well as experimental animals. Malignancies following therapeutic radiation occur rarely. Over the past 10 years the authors recorded 10 cases of tumours in irradiated tissues. 3 occurred in patients irradiated for nasopharyngeal carcinoma, 3 were irradiated for tuberculosis adenitis, 2 for carcinoma of the cervix, 1 for carcinoma of the breast and 1 for basal cell carcinoma. The latent period for tumour induction following the irradiation varied from 5 years to 31 years. All these cases showed no evidence of recurrence or metastases of the original primary lesion; and the histology of the second primary differed from the first. Evidence of radiation damage was seen in all cases except for 2 patients who were treated for tuberculosis adenitis. The doses received varied from 900r to about, 9000r. Among the tumours produced, there were 3 cases of squamous cell carcinoma of the oral & postcricoid region, 2 cases of papillary carcinoma of the thyroid, 2 cases of adenocarcinoma of the rectum, 1 case of adenocarcinoma of the ethmoid, 1 case of osteosarcoma of the mandible and 1 case of extraskeletal osteosarcoma. The clinical features of these cases are discussed and other cases reported in the literature are reviewed.