Andrew Lyons, Jona Osher, Elinor Warner, Ravi Kumar, Peter A Brennan
Osteoradionecrosis (ORN) is potentially a debilitating and serious consequence of radiotherapy to the head and neck. Although it is often defined as an area of exposed bone that does not heal, it can also exist without breaching the mucosa or the skin. Currently, 3 classifications of ORN are in use, but they depend on the use of hyperbaric oxygen or are too complicated to be used as a simple aide-mémoire, and include features that do not necessarily influence its clinical management. We propose a new classification to cover these shortcomings and to take into account the increasingly widespread use of antifibrotic medical treatment...
May 2014: British Journal of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery