Radiation-Induced Craniofacial Bone Growth Disturbances.
October 5, 2007 Growth Disturbances, Craniofacial Bone, Radiation 1 Comment
From the *Division of Plastic Surgery, Hospital for Sick Children and the †Paediatric Surgery Clinic, University of Geneva Children’s Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland; the ‡Division of Plastic Surgery, University Health Network and University of Toronto; and the §Research Institute, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Multimodality treatment, including radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and surgery, is required for the management of head and neck cancer in pediatric patients. Despite the modern advances in radiation dosing and targeting techniques, the radiation damage to the growing craniofacial skeleton in children remains a significant clinical problem. The first part of this review summarizes the clinical effects of radiotherapy on craniofacial bone growth in children. Experimental evidence on therapeutic radiation effects on bone growth in in vivo and in vitro models is reviewed. The second part of this review focuses on prevention of radiation-induced craniofacial bone growth inhibition using radioprotective agents.
PMID: 17912072 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
