Deletion or loss of the long arm of chromosome 7 in myelodysplasia and acute myeloid leukaemia could indicate previous exposure to ionising radiation, says Dr Maryanne Gundestrup from the University of Copenhagen (
Researchers studied the karyotype of seven aircrew members who had acute myeloid leukaemia or myelodysplasia and found a deletion or a loss of chromosome 7 in four. The same abnormality was found in eight of 19 patients with leukaemia after radiotherapy alone. Both the aircrew and radiotherapy groups showed a statistical significant excess of chromosome abnormality when compared with the range of chromosome aberrations found in 761 patients with myelodysplasia or acute myeloid leukaemia from Lund, Sweden....