Research progress in radiotherapy for head and neck tumors in parotid gland protection / 国际肿瘤学杂志

ABSTRACT

Radiotherapy is the main treatment for head and neck cancer,but it will result in adjacent tissue damage,including radioactive xerostomia,the most common complication.The mechanism of radiation-induced parotid damage injury is unclear.Parotid function test include detection of parotid salivary flow and salivary flow rate,parotid SPECT,CT and MRI,etc.How to protect the parotid glands becomes a hot research in recent years.At present,the main methods of protecting the parotid glands includes selecting patterns of radiotherapy,radiotherapy planning optimization,drugs,stem cell transplantation and gene transduction.