Gann Monograph on Cancer Research – serie

Follow-up studies of persons exposed to medical radiation have long shown that radiation induces cancer in man. This, coupled with increasing exposure from other sources including occupational and environmental radiations, has resulted in greater recognition of the importance of research on radiation-induced carcinogenesis and risk assessment with a view to radiation protection. One of the well-known late effects of radiation is the increased incidence of leukemia that occurred among atomic bomb survivors beginning two or three years after expo­ sure. A remarkable increase of solid tumors including cancers of the thyroid, breast and lung was also observed 10 to 20 years after exposure. Thus, many pathological, clinical and epidemiological studies have been made on radiation carcinogenesis in atomic bomb survivors by investigators at the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC), now known as the Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF), as well as by the staff of universities in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Some of the mechanisms involved in radia­ tion carcinogenesis in man and associated modifying factors, such as age at time of ex­ posure and sex, have been elucidated by these studies. The results obtained are being used by such agencies as the International Commission on Radiation Protection (ICRP) for risk estimations of radiation exposure. This monograph presents the results realized thus far in these epidemiological and The incidence of radiation-induced cancer among atomic bomb pathological studies.

Despite an enormous investment of effort throughout the world, cancer is still a major barrier to human longevity. Cancer deaths are estimated to be more than five million globally. Currently responsible for about 20% of all deaths in developed coun­ tries, the burden of cancer is steadily increasing in the developing world, following the control of malnutrition and infectious and parasitic diseases. Deeply impressed by the report of the Symposium on Geographic Pathology and Demography of Cancer held at Oxford in 1950, and through his preliminary work on cancer mortality statistics in Japan, Professor M. Segi decided to devote his life to the fight against cancer by establishing worldwide comparative cancer statistics-one of the landmarks in cancer studies and in cancer prevention strategies. He and his associates published six volumes of Cancer Mortality in 24 Countries with reliable mortality statistics covering 1950-1967, using the world population which he had derived as a standard. These publications rapidly became standard works of reference on the subject throughout the world. Professor Segi was a pioneer of cancer epidemiology in Japan. He cleaved a path through the jungle of cancer using epidemiological methods. By promoting cancer studies, he overcame the poor understanding of malignant disease which existed after World War II, when cancer mortality rates were still low.