Also see:
Harm of Prenatal Exposure to Radiation
Caffeine and Skin Protection
Topical Vitamin E and ultraviolet radiation on human skin
Preventing Breast Cancer
We Are Giving Ourselves Cancer
Alice Stewart: The woman who knew too much
Breast Cancer
Radiation and Growth – Ray Peat
Bone Density: First Do No Harm
Inflammation from Radiation
Hormonal profiles in women with breast cancer
PUFA Increases Estrogen
PUFA Inhibit Glucuronidation
PUFA Promote Cancer
Maternal PUFA Intake Increases Breast Cancer Risk in Female Offspring
Estrogen and Bowel Transit Time
Progestin and Cancer
Study: Acquired Breast Cancer Risk Spans Multiple Generations
Ray Peat, PhD on Thyroid, Temperature, Pulse, and TSH
JAMA. 1977 Feb 21;237(8):789-90.
Breast cancer induced by radiation. Relation to mammography and treatment of acne.
Simon N.
This communication reports cases of 16 women in who cancer of the breast developed after radiation therapy for acne or hirsutism, suggesting another group at higher risk than is generally expected for cancer of the breast. It is prudent to regard the carcinogenic effect of radiation on the breast as proportional to dose without a threshold. Mammography in young women should be ordered only selectively, not for screening.
Rev Interam Radiol. 1977 Oct;2(4):199-203.
Cancer of the breast–induction by radiation and role of mammography.
Simon N.
Conflict in the management of cancer of the breast exists. Diagnosis by x-ray mammography provides early effective treatment, but x-ray exposure to the breast is cancerogenic. Prudence requires the use of low dose x-rays in mammography, and limits the use of x-ray mammography in the young. Guide lines for the indications for mammography are changing, and large scale population exposure to radiation should await results of demonstration projects in the United States.
J Am Acad Dermatol. 2006 Dec;55(6):981-9. Epub 2006 Aug 14.
Increased breast cancer risk after radiotherapy for acne among women with skin cancer.
El-Gamal H, Bennett RG.
BACKGROUND:
Radiotherapy was commonly used to treat benign conditions, especially skin diseases, during the first half of the twentieth century. Previous studies have shown that radiotherapy for some of these conditions increases the risk of developing breast cancer. Although breast cancer associated with previous radiotherapy for acne has been reported, no statistically significant correlation has been established.
OBJECTIVE:
The aim of this study was to determine whether radiotherapy for acne is a risk factor for subsequent development of breast cancer.
METHODS:
A retrospective nested case-control study was conducted using the cohort of all patients referred for Mohs micrographic surgery to the senior author (R. G. B.) from 1978 to 2003. The case group consisted of 244 women who were skin cancer patients and who had received radiotherapy for acne. The control group consisted of 244 age-matched women skin cancer patients from the same records randomly selected within the initial Mohs micrographic surgery treatment year. Clinical data from both groups regarding cancer history and radiotherapy were extracted and statistically analyzed.
RESULTS:
Women skin cancer patients who had received radiotherapy for acne have a prevalence of breast cancer of 15% compared with 6.6% in control women skin cancer patients, for an odds ratio (OR) of 2.5 (P = .0033; 95% confidence interval, 1.3-4.6). Increased prevalence is correlated with age at treatment younger than 20 years (age-adjusted OR, 2.9; age-adjusted P = .002), treatment sessions numbering 5 or more (age-adjusted OR, 3.5; age-adjusted P = .005), and treatment year occurring before 1950 (age-adjusted OR, 2.9; age-adjusted P = .00013).
LIMITATIONS:
The data used are based primarily on patient history and physical examinations and are therefore limited by the accuracy of the patient and the caregiver.
CONCLUSION:
Women with skin cancer exposed to previous radiotherapy for acne are significantly more likely to develop breast cancer than their age-matched controls with skin cancer. Therefore all women previously treated for acne with radiotherapy should be identified and closely monitored for subsequent breast cancer development.
