Children of parents irradiated prior to conception - a longterm study (results 1986)

Five or ten years after a first examination, 55 children were submitted to a check-up investigation of their physical and intellectual development. The group of twenty irradiated fathers received an average dose to the gonads of 0.55 Gy (0.01 to 6.4 Gy), the group of twenty irradiated mothers 0.72 Gy (0.01 to 8.0 Gy). In all parents the most frequent finding was Hodgkin's disease, which was diagnosed as a neoplams in 23 cases. The proof of paternity was made with a 86% accuracy for ten out of twenty fathers by determination of HLA types. A conception was demonstrated beyond all doubt after a dose to the testicles of 1.2 Gy in the irradiated fathers and after a dose to the ovaries of 3.0 Gy in the irradiated mothers. The offspring of the F1 generation showed no modification in the sex ratio. A rate of 5.5% of severe malformations was found (trisomy E, bradyacousia of the inner ear, cleft hands and feet). 24% of the children had malformations which needed a treatment (hernias, torticollis, hip dysplasia). 18 out of 55 children (33%) presented abnormalities in the widest sense of the word. Three children (5.5%) were premature infants, and there is a general tendency towards shortened pregnancy (-3.6 days). Hernias (7/55) are a frequent finding. In children of both sexes, carporadiography shows a delayed development which is not compensated in the check-up examinations at five or ten years, but does not cause an underdevelopment in body height as compared to great normal collectives. The results suggest a slightly increased malformation rate among children whose parents were treated by radiotherapy. Above all the connective and supporting tissue seems involved. Some proposals are made how to give a radiogenetic advice to tumor patients who want to have children. (orig.)