Childhood Hodgkin’s Treatment Found to Increase Cancer Risk
From Times staff and wire reports
Women who had childhood Hodgkin’s disease and were treated with radiation have a much higher risk of developing breast cancer and some other types of solid tumors, according to a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The research, which shows a breast cancer rate 75 times higher than that of the general population, suggested that women treated for Hodgkin’s should be screened regularly for breast cancer, according to a team led by Dr. Smita Bhatia of the University of Minnesota.
Hodgkin’s disease is a cancer of the lymph nodes and similar tissue. It usually strikes people in their 20s or after age 55.
