Study Shows 3.4-fold Increase in Stomach Cancer Risk for Men Treated With Radiation for Testicular Cancer and Hodgkin Lymphoma

A cohort study of testicular cancer or Hodgkin lymphoma survivors in the Netherlands treated with radiation therapy showed a risk of stomach cancer for these men that increased with the mean stomach dose.

Alexandra W. van den Belt-Dusebout, et al, conducted a cohort study of 5,142 survivors treated between 1965 and 1995, according to the article “Roles of Radiation Dose and Chemotherapy in the Etiology of Stomach Cancer as a Second Malignancy,” published in the Dec. 1, 2009, Red Journal. The researchers gathered information on treatment, smoking, gastrointestinal diseases and family history from 42 patients with stomach cancer and 126 matched controls.

The results showed the mean radiation dose to the stomach of 20 Gy was associated with a relative risk of 9.9 (95% CI, 3.2-31.2) compared to doses below 11 Gy. A 3.4-fold increase in stomach cancer risk was associated with an increasing mean stomach dose at a radiation–related excess relative risk per gray of 0.84 per Gy.

“Stomach cancer risk is strongly radiation dose dependent,” the authors concluded in their abstract. “The role of chemotherapy, particularly of procarbazine and related agents, needs further study because of the relatively small numbers of chemotherapy-treated subjects.”