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CHILDHOOD RADIATION EXPOSURE LINKED TO HYPERPARATHYROIDISM.

Radiation was used to treat a variety of conditions of the head and neck during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. This treatment has since been linked to tumors of the thyroid, salivary glands, and other organs. A report from Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago now indicates that hyperparathyroidism should be added to the list of potential late sequelae from radiation treatments.

The investigators followed 2923 patients who had received radiation to the tonsils before age 16, and found that 32 had developed clinical hyperparathyroidism -- a rate more than twice that expected in the general population. Thirty of the 32 patients had undergone parathyroid surgery, including 27 with single adenomas and three who had parathyroid hyperplasia or multiple adenomas. Thyroid cancer also developed in 31 percent of the patients with hyperparathyroidism, but in only 11 percent of irradiated patients who did not have hyperparathyroidism.

These data demonstrate that childhood irradiation may be a cause of hyperparathyroidism, and that if hyperparathyroidism develops, patients should be carefully screened for thyroid cancer. The authors recommend calcium measurements in patients who received radiation treatments as children.

— THL

Published in Journal Watch General Medicine August 10, 1990

Citation(s):

Cohen J et al. A prospective study of hyperparathyroidism in individuals exposed to radiation in childhood. JAMA 1990 Aug 1 264 581-584.

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