The Incidence of Leukemia in Radiologists

Cancer and other causes of mortality among radiologic technologists in the United States

“…The analyses for all years worked were adjusted for the duration of employment using fluoroscopy and the analyses for all time periods was adjusted for the year first worked with fluoroscopy.-3 p-trend was based on the slope of the corresponding continuous variable; parentheses indicate negative slope estimate.- 4 Relative risks for all years worked adjusted for total duration of employment with fluoroscopy; relative risk for all time periods adjusted for year of first employment with fluoroscopy.- 5 Subjects who never worked with fluoroscopy or who had unknown values for the variables in the table were included in this analysis and were coded as separate categories (estimates not shown). Only female subjects were included for the breast cancer analysis; all subjects were included for all the other analyses.- 6 Referent group for the joint analyses of the number of years worked and year first worked.-7 Referent group for the separate analyses of number of years worked and year first worked.-8 p Ͻ 0.05. subject was first certified as a radiologic technologist and the total number of years a subject was certified (information about the year a subject first worked was not available in the ARRT registry). In addition, the analysis could not be adjusted for known risk factors, since information about these factors was not available in the ARRT registry.…”

“…U.S. and other radiologists first employed prior to 1940 [2][3][4][5][6][7] experienced elevated risks of leukemia, skin cancer and other malignancies, but cancer risks were not generally increased among radiologists first employed after 1940 (with the possible exception of multiple myeloma among U.S. radiologists). 4,5 Some, 7,8 but not all, 9,10 cohorts of radiologic technologists experienced an elevated leukemia risk.…”

Induction of myeloid leukaemia by whole-body single exposure of CBA male mice to x-rays

“…Sufficient (Ishimarti et al, 1971). It was also preponderant among American radiologists (Ulrich, 1946; U.N.S.C.E. A.R., 1964), patients treated with X-rays for ankylosing spondylitis (Court Brown & Doll,1.957) and children irradiated as foetuses (Stewart & (e.,q.…”

Imaging strategies to reduce the risk of radiation in CT studies, including selective substitution with MRI

“…Publications in the 1940s and 1950s described the increased incidence of leukemia in radiologists (8,9). Fluoroscopy was a major form of imaging investigation at that time, which explains why radiologists had a higher incidence of leukemia (since with this method the radiologist and patient share the same radiation exposure).…”

“…Historical data from the early days of diagnostic x-ray imaging indicate that malignancies arose from excessive exposure to the x-rays. A number of articles in major medical journals described various malignancies those arose in both patients and physicians (8,9). Other data showed an increased risk of breast cancer in female patients who underwent serial spine x-ray examinations for investigation of scoliosis (13), and an increased incidence of childhood leukemia associated with postnatal diagnostic x-rays (14).…”