Title:Radiation exposure in Russia

Five decades of health and cancer outcomes research with Russian nuclear workers finds higher rates of bile duct cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma among the workers, as well as unusually high rates in women of angiosarcoma of the liver, a form of cancer that is extremely rare.

It’s one of very few studies to examine liver cancer in people exposed to radiation in a chronic, low-dose occupational setting. Previous research on radiation exposure has focused on survivors of disasters like the Chernobyl explosion or the Hiroshima bomb.

The new findings published Aug. 1 in the journal Radiation Research could be used to guide safer and better tailored radiation exposure standards for people world-wide who work in nuclear facilities or those exposed to other forms of radiation, including space exploration.

“The importance of this work has to do with worker safety,” said Christopher Loffredo, professor of oncology and biostatistics and director of the Office of Global Oncology at Georgetown University’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. “There are many types of radioactive materials and chemicals used in laboratories and the nuclear power industry. There’s also cosmic radiation exposure in settings like space travel. So these continue to be very timely questions that still need more work to get answers.”