Radiazioni ionizzanti e cancro tiroideo [Radiation exposure and thyroid cancer]

Thyroid cancer is the most common malignant tumor of the endocrine system. The most frequent type of thyroid malignancy is papillary carcinoma. Thyroid cancer's incidence rates have increased over the last three decades throughout the world. Numerous studies have documented that radiation exposure is a well-established risk factor for the thyroid cancer. It has been reported that exposure to external medical radiation or to external and internal radiation from atomic bomb explosions, nuclear tests or nuclear accidents leads to an increased risk for thyroid cancer. The risk of thyroid cancer is maximal during the first years of life and decreases with increasing age at exposure due to morphologic and functional heterogeneity in the thyroid tissue of children and adults. Also it has been indicated that iodine deficiency increases the risk of the thyroid cancer related to radioactive iodines in case of exposure to radioactive iodines in childhood and the stable iodine supplementation reduces this risk. Ionizing radiation produces a range of mutations in irradiated cells of the thyroid. The prevalence of RET/PTC mutations is significantly higher in papillary carcinomas from childhood patients with the precedent history of radiation