Low-level radiation exposure leads to soft-tissue sarcoma

Low levels of exposure to ionizing radiation could lead to soft-tissue sarcoma, according to results from the prospective longitudinal Life Span Study of Japanese atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Researchers, led by Dino Samartzis, of the department of orthopaedics & traumatology at the University of Hong Kong, reported the results in the Feb. 6 issue of the Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery. Among the 80,180 survivors analyzed in the study, researchers identified 104 soft-tissue sarcomas, with 4.1 cases observed for every 100,000 person years.

"Our study attempts to raise awareness that even moderate levels of ionizing radiation exposure--from medical imaging, radiation therapy, and environmental exposure--can lead to the development of soft-tissue sarcomas," Samartzis and his colleagues wrote in the study. Article