Histological review of breast cancer in atomic bomb survivors, Hiroshima and Nagasaki

A group of pathologists from the United States and Japan reviewed breast cancer material of women exposed to the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and controls. The purpose of the review was to verify the diagnoses, establish a base of confirmed cases for epidemiologic study, and provide a reference for other pathology review. Compared to the control group, matched through the Life Span Study extended sample, there were no differences in distribution of tumor type and tumor size. There were also no differences in histological type by age or radiation dose. The peak age for cancer to develop was the same in the exposed and control groups. The type of radiation had no effect on histological type. Atypical changes or residual proliferative lesions were not found in women exposed to radiation but free from cancer. On the basis of this study, it was concluded that radiogenic breast cancer does not differ histologically from spontaneously occurring cancer in Japanese women. (author)