Why do orthopedic surgeons have such high breast cancer rates?

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/08/why-do-orthopedic-surgeons-have-such-high-breast-cancer-rates/

The first time Loretta Chou drilled a hole in a bone, as a medical student in the mid-80’s, she thought it was the most fun thing she had ever done.

“I liked that you could actually make people better—almost immediately better—by operating on a fracture,” she recalls.

When she decided to specialize in orthopedic surgery, the branch of medicine that treats the musculoskeletal system, she knew that her chosen profession was a boys’ club. Just six percent of orthopedic surgeons are women. But it didn’t dawn on her that her job could be a health risk until the mid-2000s, when Chou, by then the chief of foot and ankle surgery at Stanford University, noticed that an alarming number of female colleagues were being diagnosed with breast cancer.

She got to wondering: Was this a fluke, or did female orthopedic surgeons have high rates of cancer? On some level, it wouldn’t be surprising if they did. Radiation exposure is a known carcinogen—the closer you are to the radiation source, the higher the risk—and orthopedic surgeons are often the closest in the operating room to x-ray beams. The surgeries typically involve the use of a technology called fluoroscopy, which shines an x-ray beam onto the patient during operations, providing the surgeon with real-time images over the course of the operation. The procedures can be lengthy, exposing surgeons to radiation over several hours. Yet surgeons aren’t always diligent about wearing the lead shields aimed at protecting from radiation, and, critically, the shields often leave the outer edges of the breast uncovered.

Chou’s latest study found that the surgeons have rates of breast cancer nearly four times higher than the general population.

*snip*

[tinrobot]

1. The next question would be is it just breast cancer?

Or are other cancers higher in orthopedists? Is it restricted to females or do males also see higher cancer rates?

If exposure to radiation is the source of breast cancer, then that radiation might cause cancer elsewhere.

[Rebl2]

2. I wondered

the same thing. Do the men have higher rates of cancer.

[milestogo]

7. I know of a male surgeon who got breast cancer.

He was not an orthopedic specialist however.

[BlackSkimmer]

3. Well, how about the patients who have this "x-ray beam" on them throughout the operation?

I've had more than my share of orthopedic surgeries. Eek.

[lambchopp59]

4. Negligible compared exposure in the scatter zone, several times a day several days/week, for years.

The risk is far higher for someone standing near and next to the patient than it is for the patient. The scatter zone within a few inches of the person irradiated is where the most cell damaging scatter exists.
Radiation effects, albeit cumulative, mostly heal between procedures.

[marybourg]

5. My age cohort used to get our shoes

fitted by fluoroscopy.

[calimary]

6. Great info!

Thank you!

[YoshidaYui]

8. I would have thought

XRay Technicans.

[Pepsidog]

9. My son just started his first year of orthopedic surgery residency and sent him this article. I

wonder if males are in danger.