Radiation exposure during childhood increases risk of meningioma

the Oncology Nurse Advisor take:

According to a new study published online in the journal Neuroscience Discovery, researchers at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Illinois, researchers have found that exposure to radiation during childhood increases a person's risk for developing meningioma before the age of 30.

For the study, researchers identified 35 patients who were diagnosed with the specific type of brain tumor before the age of 30. They found that five of the 35 patients had been exposed to ionizing radiation during their childhood, two of whom for leukemia, one for medulloblastoma, and one for what may have been a meningioma. The fifth patient's radiation exposure was due to the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. The average time between radiation exposure and meningioma diagnosis was 23.5 years.

Researchers are now conducting a follow-up study and are including patients of all ages who have been treated for meningiomas at Loyola University Medical Center. Thus far, they have identified 14 patients with meningiomas, three of whom exposed to radiation during the Chernobyl disaster and 11 patients that received radiation for fungal infections on the scalp, leukemia, and medulloblastomas.

The findings suggest that comparing post-radiation meningiomas with de no meningiomas will better clarify the best therapy for these patients.