Bioengineering of calvaria with adult stem cells.

Background: Defects of the adult skull do not heal spontaneously, producing challenging problems for the craniofacial surgeon. Reconstruction of such defects requires either the placement of alloplastic material or the harvest of autogenous bone. A technique is described for the reconstruction of critical-sized, full-thickness calvarial defects in the adult rat model using specific adult stem cells, namely, multipotent adult stem cells.

Evaluation of patterns of failure and subjective salivary function in patients treated with intensity modulated radiotherapy for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Background: Our aim was to correlate patterns of failure with target volume delineations in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) treated with intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and to report subjective xerostomia outcomes after IMRT as compared with conventional radiation therapy (CRT).

Methods: Between January 2000 and April 2005, 69 patients with newly diagnosed nonmetastatic HNSCC underwent curative parotid-sparing IMRT at Stanford University. Sites included were oropharynx (n = 39), oral cavity (n = 8), larynx (n = 8), hypopharynx (n = 8), and unknown primary (n = 6).