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Leukemia

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Radiation Hormesis and the Linear-No-Threshold Assumption

Leukemia is a disease of abnormal lymphopoiesis, myelopoiesis, or erythropoiesis resulting in multicentric and unexplained proliferation and/or accumulation of neoplastic cells. The basic problem with leukemia is one of departure from steady-state equilibrium in the production of marrow cells and the resultant infiltration and encroachment of excess leukemia cells upon other tissues, interfering with their normal function.

The risk of leukemia is associated with age, sex, geographic location, genetics and exposure to bracken fern, benzene and other chemicals, and ionizing radiation. The risk of developing leukemia is 1 in 5 for an identical twin if the other has leukemia, 1 in 6 for those treated with 32P for polycythemia vera, 1 in 8 for those with Bloom's syndrome, 1 in 60 for Hiroshima A-bomb survivors within 1,000 m of hypocenter, 1 in 95 for those with Down's syndrome, 1 in 720 for siblings of leukemia children, and 1 in 2,880 for children <15 years old [1, 2]. Leukemia is also a late complication of combined cancer radiotherapy and chemotherapy [3, 4].

No one has been identifiably injured by radiation while working within the first numerical standards set first by the NCRP and then the ICRP in 1934

(Lauriston Taylor)

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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 335 Gwahak-ro (373-1 Guseong-dong), Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 305-701, Republic of Korea

    Charles L. Sanders

Appendix

Appendix

Table A11.3 Risk of leukemia mortality in epidemiological studies of populations exposed to ionizing radiation
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(2010). Leukemia. In: Sanders, C.L. (eds) Radiation Hormesis and the Linear-No-Threshold Assumption. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-03720-7_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-03720-7_11

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