Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2005 Sep;55(6):498-500.
doi: 10.1093/occmed/kqi048.

Increased cancer risk among surgeons in an orthopaedic hospital

Giuseppe Mastrangelo  1 , Ugo Fedeli, Emanuela Fadda, Angelo Giovanazzi, Luca Scoizzato, Bruno Saia
Affiliations

Increased cancer risk among surgeons in an orthopaedic hospital

Giuseppe Mastrangelo et al. Occup Med (Lond). 2005 Sep.

Abstract

Background: Five cancer cases over 7 years were reported in a small orthopaedic hospital where radiation protection practice was poor.

Aim: To investigate whether workers subject to routine radiation dosimetric assessment in that hospital had an increased cancer risk.

Methods: One hundred and fifty-eight workers subject to routine dose assessment and 158 age-sex-matched unexposed workers were questioned about cancer occurrence. All tumours were analysed as a single diagnostic category.

Results: Cumulative 1976-2000 cancer incidence was 29 (9/31), 6 (8/125) and 4% (7/158) in orthopaedics, exposed other than orthopaedics, and unexposed workers, respectively. At logistic regression analysis, working as orthopaedic surgeon significantly (P<0.002) increased the risk of tumours.

Conclusion: These findings caution against surgeons' underestimation of the potential radiation risk and insufficient promotion of safe work practices by their health care institutions.

PubMed Disclaimer