Facial deformation following treatment for pediatric head and neck rhabdomyosarcoma; the difference between treatment modalities. Results of a trans-Atlantic, multicenter cross-sectional cohort study.
Hol MLF., Indelicato DJ., Slater O., Kolb F., Hewitt RJ., Ong J., Becking AG., Gains J., Bradley J., Sandler E., Gaze MN., Pieters B., Mandeville H., Fajardo RD., Schoot R., Merks JHM., Hammond P., Smeele LE., Suttie M.
BACKGROUND: The four different local therapy strategies used for head and neck rhabdomyosarcoma (HNRMS) include proton therapy (PT), photon therapy (RT), surgery with radiotherapy (Paris-method), and surgery with brachytherapy (AMORE). Local control and survival is comparable; however, the impact of these different treatments on facial deformation is still poorly understood. This study aims to quantify facial deformation and investigates the differences in facial deformation between treatment modalities. METHODS: Across four European and North American institutions, HNRMS survivors treated between 1990 and 2017, more than 2 years post treatment, had a 3D photograph taken. Using dense surface modeling, we computed facial signatures for each survivor to show facial deformation relative to 35 age-sex-ethnicity-matched controls. Additionally, we computed individual facial asymmetry. FINDINGS: A total of 173 HNRMS survivors were included, survivors showed significantly reduced facial growth (p