Adults at higher risk for developing cancer later in life after childhood exposures

Children that received radiation treatments for childhood cancers have a higher risk of developing breast cancer later in life, even if the radiation dose was low, according to scientists at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncologists, or ASCO in Chicago Illinois.

The new study shows kids who undergo chest radiation for cancer face a much greater risk for breast cancer when they become adults.

Chest radiation is used to treat Hodgkins Lymphoma.

One study found that 30-percent of girls who were treated for this developed breast cancer by the age of 50. That’s compared to 4-percent in the general population.

Source: ABC Local