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Thyroid cancer
Source: Late Effects of Treatment for Childhood Cancer (PDQ®)–Health Professional Version, National Cancer Institute.
Source updated: April 14, 2025 · Captured 2026-09-09.
Selected source text with whitespace normalised. This Triangle page is not an NCI PDQ summary.
Context: Subsequent Neoplasms / Therapy-Related Solid SNs
Neck radiation therapy for Hodgkin lymphoma, acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), and brain tumors.
Iodine I 131-metaiodobenzylguanidine (131I-MIBG) treatment for neuroblastoma.
TBI for HSCT.
Chemotherapy only, without therapeutic radiation.
The 25-year cumulative incidence of thyroid cancer among survivors of childhood cancer is 0.5%.[13] The risk of thyroid cancer among childhood cancer survivors is more than tenfold higher than that of the general population (SIR, 10.5; 95% CI, 9.1–12).[4] Significant modifiers of the radiation-related risk of thyroid cancer include the following:[28,58]
Female sex.
Younger age at exposure.
Longer time since exposure.
Radiation dose. A linear dose-response relationship between radiation exposure and thyroid cancer is observed up to 10 Gy, with a leveling off between 10 Gy and 30 Gy, and a decline in the OR at higher doses, especially in children younger than 10 years at treatment, suggesting a cell killing effect of the target cells at higher doses.[24,28,59]
In a Dutch case-control study, childhood cancer survivors with subsequent thyroid cancer were more likely to present with smaller tumors and bilateral tumors than the general population. Treatment outcomes were similar between subsequent and sporadic thyroid cancers.[60]
Source links and citations
For information about detecting thyroid nodules and thyroid cancer, see the Thyroid nodules section.
Source links and citations
Publication references
Read the original reference and check its publication notices.
- PubMed 15950715 · Original source
- PubMed 22619350 · Original source
- PubMed 24521679 · Original source
- PubMed 26972653 · Original source
- PubMed 27128740 · Original source
- PubMed 28245323 · Original source
- PubMed 28530852 · Original source
- PubMed 31622130 · Original source
- PubMed 32449692 · Original source
- PubMed 38460547 · Original source
Preserved source evidence · Not medical advice