Thyroid cancers in youths

May 19, 2015

Fukushima finds 16 new cases of thyroid cancer in young people

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201505190041

By YURI OIWA/ Staff Writer

Sixteen young people who lived near the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, prefectural authorities said May 18, although they added it is “unlikely” a direct result of the nuclear accident.

Fukushima Prefecture has been conducting thyroid tests on about 385,000 residents and others who were 18 years old or younger at the time of the onset of the March 2011 nuclear disaster caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.

A prefectural panel said the results of the first round of tests that concluded in March 2014 revealed the ratio of those diagnosed or suspected of having thyroid cancer who live near the Fukushima plant was no different than the ratio of the same age group from elsewhere in Japan.

The 16 new cases were detected between January and March, and bring the total number of young people diagnosed with the disease in the testing program to 103. Thyroid cancer can be confirmed only after surgery.

The prefecture is currently conducting its second survey of test subjects, which will be concluded in March 2016.

The latest 16 include 12 individuals who were suspected of having the disease during the first study, and four who were believed to have the disease during the second study.

According to prefectural officials, 112 young people were diagnosed or suspected of having thyroid cancer during the first study, with the figure at 15, thus far, in the second survey, bringing the total to date to 127 people.

Because babies and small children are particularly susceptible to the effects of radiation, many cases of thyroid cancer in infants were reported after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. However, this has not proven to be the case so far with regard to the Fukushima nuclear crisis.

The prefectural panel will further study the impact of radiation exposure on the frequency of thyroid cancer cases by comparing the findings of the first survey with results of the second study and future check-ups.

4 new thyroid cancer cases emerge in latest checks on Fukushima children

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150519p2a00m0na002000c.html

Four children have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer in a second round of health checks performed by the Fukushima Prefectural Government in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, it has been learned.

The prefectural government has been testing Fukushima Prefecture residents who were aged 18 or under when the nuclear disaster broke out in March 2011. The four children, who were diagnosed by the end of March, were not among those confirmed to have or suspected of having cancer during the first round of checks.

The four new cases were reported to experts at a prefectural inspection committee meeting on May 18. The first cancer case confirmed during the second round of checks emerged in February. The newest cases bring the number diagnosed with thyroid cancer during secondary checks to five.

A total of 385,000 people were targeted during the second round of checks. As of the end of March, the test results for 120,000 of them had been finalized.

Altogether, 10 children were "suspected" of having cancer. An official from the prefectural inspection committee commented, "At this stage, there's no need to revise the evaluation that any effect of radiation is unlikely."

During the first round of checks, around 300,000 of the 370,000 people eligible to undergo screening were tested, and by the end of March, 99.9 percent of the test results had been finalized. A total of 98 people were diagnosed as having thyroid cancer, up from 86 people as of the end of last year.

May 19, 2015(Mainichi Japan)