Thyroid cancer in Ukraine after the Chernobyl accident (in the framework of the Ukraine-US Thyroid Project)

J Radiol Prot. 2012 Mar;32(1):N65-9. doi: 10.1088/0952-4746/32/1/N65. Epub 2012 Mar 6.

Abstract

As a result of the accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, millions of residents of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine were exposed to large doses of radioactive iodine isotopes, mainly I-131. The purpose of the Ukraine-American (UkrAm) and Belarus-American (BelAm) projects are to quantify the risks of thyroid cancer in the framework of a classical cohort study, comprising subjects who were aged under 18 years at the time of the accident, had direct measurements of thyroid I-131 radioactivity taken within two months after the accident, and were residents of three heavily contaminated northern regions of Ukraine (Zhitomir, Kiev, and Chernigov regions). Four two-year screening examination cycles were implemented from 1998 until 2007 to study the risks associated with thyroid cancer due to the iodine exposure caused during the Chernobyl accident. A standardised procedure of clinical examinations included: thyroid palpation, ultrasound examination, blood collection followed by a determination of thyroid hormone levels, urinary iodine content test, and fine-needle aspiration if required. Among the 110 cases of thyroid cancer diagnosed in UkrAm as the result of four screening examinations, 104 cases (94.5%) of papillary carcinomas, five cases (4.6%) of follicular carcinomas, and one case (0.9%) of medullary carcinoma were diagnosed.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Chernobyl Nuclear Accident*
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Humans
  • Incidence
  • Infant
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Middle Aged
  • Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced / epidemiology*
  • Nuclear Power Plants / statistics & numerical data*
  • Proportional Hazards Models*
  • Radioactive Fallout / statistics & numerical data*
  • Republic of Belarus / epidemiology
  • Risk Assessment
  • Risk Factors
  • Thyroid Neoplasms / epidemiology*
  • Ukraine / epidemiology
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • Radioactive Fallout