Exposing to radiation while undergoing breast cancer diagnosis itself can make some women at a greater risk of developing the disease, researchers say.
The findings published in the British Medical Journal found women with a mutation in the BRCA genes more vulnerable to have breast cancer when exposed to chest X-rays before they cross 30 years.
To find out the link between age and radiation, the investigators included nearly 2,000 women with BRCA faults in Netherlands, France and UK. All the participants of the study were aged only 18 or more at the time of the diagnosis.
Details about the radiation exposure like age at first exposure and number of exposures were drawn from the participants.
BRCA plays a major role in fixing the harm caused by radiation, researchers said while explaining the factors that lead to the occurrence.
"BRCA genes help repair DNA damage - damage which can be caused by exposure to radiation like X-rays," study author, professor Douglas Easton, a Cancer Research UK scientist at the University of Cambridge, said in a news release. "Women with faults in these genes are less able to repair damage caused by radiation, so they are at a greater risk of developing breast cancer. It's important that these women and their doctors are aware of this."
After getting the results, experts urge health practitioners to become more careful while subjecting young women to radiation.
"This research highlights that young women with a faulty BRCA gene are potentially more sensitive to low doses of radiation and doctors need to be aware of these risks when considering procedures using X-rays," Dr. Julie Sharp, senior science information manager at Cancer Research UK, said.
The two solutions put forward by the experts are either undergoing screening after 30 years or adopting more safer tests like MRI.
Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths among American women. Nearly 226,870 women in the country have invasive breast cancer and about 39,510 die from breast cancer every year.
