What are the important characteristics of radiation-induced breast cancer?
First, the breast tissue of young women is one of the most sensitive tissues to the carcinogenic action of ionizing radiation. Only the bone marrow (where exposure can result in leukemia) and the infant thyroid gland are more sensitive to the cancer-causing effects of radiation. Second, it takes a minimum of about 5-10 years after exposure before a radiation-induced breast cancer would develop, and usually many more years. In fact, the time between radiation exposure and breast cancer development is longest in young women and shortest for older women; young children do not show a detectable elevation in breast cancer occurrence for some 35 to 40 years after exposure. Radiation-induced breast cancers appear to occur later in life during the same ages when breast cancer rates, in general, begin to increase. It appears that a single exposure of sufficient dose during early life can increase breast cancer risk even 50 years later. Third, the relationship between radiation dose and breast c
