Thyroid gland and radiation (Ukrainian-American Thyroid Project)

Abstract

For the period 1998–2002, in the framework of the Ukraine–USA Thyroid Project, medical screening examinations have been conducted to subjects who were aged 0 to 18 years at the time of the Chernobyl accident. These were residents of eight districts, from Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Zhytomyr regions of the Ukraine, having been most affected following the Chernobyl accident, and having received within several weeks after the accident direct measurements of thyroid doses of gamma radiation. For the period 1998–2000, 13227 cohort subjects have undergone screening, and in 2001–2002, a repeat screening was performed. As a result of screening, 64 cases of thyroid carcinoma have been identified, including 43 cases after the first screening and 21 cases after the second screening. The distribution of patients by thyroid exposure dose pointed out a predominance of cancer cases in the high-dose group (exposure dose exceeding 1.0 Gy). In addition, 27 cases of benign surgical thyroid pathology have been identified at the first screening, among which were diagnosed 18 cases of follicular adenoma, two cases of multinodular adenomatous goiter, four cases of nodular solitary goiter, one case of fibrous nodule with degenerative changes, one case of diffuse toxic goiter (Graves' disease), and one case of diffuse euthyroid goiter.