Cancer Patients Exposed to High Radiation

Sat Apr 2, 4:25 PM ET

TAMPA, Fla. - Dozens of patients at a cancer treatment center were exposed to radiation levels 50 percent stronger than they were supposed to receive because a radiation machine was improperly installed.

Physicists from the federal Radiological Physics Center detected the error on March 7, but the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute didn't acknowledge it until Friday.

Officials said 77 patients were affected. Twelve have since died.

"Some people were having side effects, but overall, they were within the normal range of side effects of radiation treatments," said the center director, Dr. William Dalton. "We aren't seeing unanticipated levels of side effects."

However, he said it could three months to a year for side effects such as headaches and speech and memory loss to appear.Read more...

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