George J D
Division of Environmental Health Hazards and Effects, National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Arlington, Virginia, USA.
Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 1996 Nov;115(5):438-41. doi: 10.1177/019459989611500514.
From approximately 1945 through 1960 nasopharyngeal radium treatments were used to treat barotrauma incurred during submarine escape training by submarine candidates. Concern has been expressed that the treatments placed submarine candidates at significantly increased risk of having brain cancer develop. The concern is based on brain cancer incidence rates reported in a study of Washington County children. Using comparable populations' risk coefficients and secondary brain tumor incidence rates, the excess number of brain cancers per 10,000 subjects during the 42.5 years after treatment was calculated to be 0.5 to 2.8 cases and 1 case, respectively. Personnel records of a sample of those treated and others whose treatment status was unknown were reviewed to determine the feasibility of an epidemiologic study to confirm the cancer risk. The records indicated treatments were not consistently documented to confirm who was treated. In addition, social security numbers are not known to aid in determination of vital status. In conclusion, nasopharyngeal irradiation does not appear to pose a significant risk to submariners, and it is not feasible to use the submariner population to do a meaningful epidemiologic study to clarify the cancer risk.
从大约1945年到1960年，鼻咽癌镭疗被用于治疗潜艇学员在潜艇逃生训练期间遭受的气压伤。有人担心这种治疗会使潜艇学员患脑癌的风险显著增加。这种担忧基于一项对华盛顿县儿童的研究中报告的脑癌发病率。利用可比人群的风险系数和继发性脑肿瘤发病率，计算出治疗后42.5年内每10000名受试者中额外的脑癌病例数分别为0.5至2.8例和1例。审查了一部分接受治疗者以及治疗状况未知者的人事记录，以确定进行流行病学研究以确认癌症风险的可行性。记录表明，治疗情况没有得到一致记录以确认谁接受了治疗。此外，不知道社会保险号码有助于确定生命状况。总之，鼻咽部照射似乎不会给潜艇船员带来重大风险，利用潜艇船员群体进行有意义的流行病学研究以阐明癌症风险是不可行的。
