Igor
Komissarenko
Professor Igor Vasilevich Komissarenko.
Surgeon, Institute of Endocrinology, Kiev.
Great accuracy is needed
when operating
on the thyroid gland.
You must not harm
the major nerves
in the neck
or the parathyroid gland.
We remove
the whole thyroid gland
in cases
of thyroid cancer.
This is when the cancer
is growing in more than one place
about three – and – a half – or four years
after the accident
mostly among children.
The closer to the source
to the Chernobyl region
the more cases of cancer.
The further
the fewer.
The children
were affected most
they were growing
they breathed it in
they drank it in milk.
In 1991, 1992, 1993
we reached a plateau.
50 cases a year. Then
in 2003
the number of cases
among children declined
Why?
The increase in cases
of thyroid cancer among adults
began after five years
and increased sharply after
10 years. Diagnostics have improved.
Now it is rare to find
children with big
cancer and lots of
metastases , but it still
happens with adults.
Today, twenty years later
the number of child
patients is one-and-one half
or two times higher
than before the accident.
This is due to other
sources of pollution.
The ecological situation
is generally bad. Iodine was not
the only isotope
thrown out
by Chernobyl.
It will end
when this generation
passes away.
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