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Liver, CNS, and Thyroid Cancers

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Radiation Hormesis and the Linear-No-Threshold Assumption

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Liver cancer is one of the most frequent cancers in the world with a large geographical variation in frequency. Liver cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers in South Korea and Japan. It is the third most prevalent cancer among Korean men (15%) and seventh most prevalent cancer in Korean women (6%). Prevalence of liver cancer in the United States is much less for both genders.

Confusion may result in differentiating primary liver cancer from metastatic liver cancer. Risk factors for primary liver cancer include hepatitis B and C infections, alcoholism, aflatoxin B1, other mycotoxins, tamoxifen, liver fluke, pyrrolizidine alkaloids from certain plants, vinyl chloride, tobacco-specific nitrosamines, heterocyclic aromatic amines, Thorotrast, hemochromatosis, and inherited genetic disease (alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency, tyrosinemia, Wilson's disease, and glycogen storage disease) [2, 3]. The majority of primary liver cancers in Japan are associated chronic viral hepatitis infections [4]. Spontaneous rates of primary liver cancer are as much as three times higher in males than in females. The majority of primary liver cancers are hepatocellular carcinomas, followed by cholangiocarcinomas.

The very existence of radiation hormesis phenomenon proves the existence of radiation thresholds and falsifies LNT. This is why radiation hormesis is the best remedy for mass psychological affliction called radiophobia, and, by the same token, this is why it is ignored by the influential part of the radiation protection establishment, against a vast factual evidence and the benefit of society [1].

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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 A12.3 Risk of liver cancer in epidemiological studies of populations exposed to ionizing radiation
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Table A12.4 Risk of CNS cancer in epidemiological studies of populations exposed to ionizing radiation
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Table A12.5 Risk of thyroid cancer in epidemiological studies of populations exposed to ionizing radiation
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(2010). Liver, CNS, and Thyroid Cancers. 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_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-03720-7_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-03719-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-03720-7

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