CR3 News Magazine 2022 VOL 3: MAY -- MEDICAL | Page 50

The oncologist’ perspective

Authors: Marta Garcia de Herreros1,

Teresa Gorria1, Mariona Ruidavets2,

Luis Gorospe3, Jose Luis Gutierrez4,

Laura Mezquita1

Affiliations:

1.Hospital Clinic de Barcelona

2.Hospital Gustave Roussy, Paris

3.Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal, Madrid

4.Radonova, Uppsala

What is Radon?

Lung cancer is a public health problem, being the first cause of cancer death worldwide (1). Radon is the first cause of lung cancer in non-smokers and second one in smokers after tobacco smoke. It was declared a human carcinogen in 1987 by

the WHO and in 1988 by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (2).

There is a huge variability of radon concentration in the same geographic area and available radon maps (3) are based exposure risk estimations. Indoor radon concentration varies depending on the geographic location, granite or uranium-rich soils, the construction characteristics of buildings, ventilation habits, seasonal changes and daily weather variations. Different methods for radon measurement exist, but the most recommended one by the WHO is the long-term track-etched alpha detectors(4).

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Indoor radon gas and lung cancer:

Corresponding author:

Dr. LauraMezquita MD, PhD

Medical Oncologist,

Clinician-scientist

[email protected]