Breast cancer following multiple fluoroscopies

Abstract

1. A series of 50 cases of carcinoma of the breast in women who had previously had sanatorium treatment for pulmonary tuberculosis is presented. Forty of these patients had received treatment which necessitated repeated fluoroscopic examinations of the chest over considerable periods of time. 2. The method used in carrying out these fluoroscopic examinations resulted in the anterior chest wall, including the breast areas, receiving considerable doses of unfiltered X-irradiation. 3. It is concluded that this irradiation played a significant part in the subsequent development of the mammary cancers, resulting in a higher incidence of these tumours, and occurring at an earlier age, than would normally be expected. I am greatly indebted to Dr. J. Earle Hiltz, Superintendent, and Mr. Hector McKean, Medical Librarian of the Nova Scotia Sanatorium, for their invaluable help in this investigation; without their co-operation it would have been impossible to trace many of the cases. I am also indebted to the Directors of Tuberculosis and Medical Superintendents of Sanatoria in other provinces of Canada and in the United States for assistance in obtaining case records and information with regard to methods used in fluoroscoping patients. Dr. J. M. Wanklin, of the Department of Preventive Medcine, Dalhousie University, very kindly undertook the statistical analysis of the material presented in this paper. © 1965, The British Empire Cancer Campaign for Research. All rights reserved.