Grants We Funded
Grant applicants for the 2023 cycle requested a total of nearly $4 million dollars. The PSF Study Section Subcommittees of Basic & Translational Research and Clinical Research evaluated nearly 140 grant applications on the following topics:
The PSF awarded research grants totaling over $1 million dollars to support nearly 30 plastic surgery research proposals.
ASPS/PSF leadership is committed to continuing to provide high levels of investigator-initiated research support to ensure that plastic surgeons have the needed research resources to be pioneers and innovators in advancing the practice of medicine.
Research Abstracts
Search The PSF database to have easy access to full-text grant abstracts from past PSF-funded research projects 2003 to present. All abstracts are the work of the Principal Investigators and were retrieved from their PSF grant applications. Several different filters may be applied to locate abstracts specific to a particular focus area or PSF funding mechanism.
Therapeutic Prevention of Radiation Induced Non-Unions
Alexis Donneys MD
2011
University of Michigan
The prolongation of survival afforded by radiotherapy in Head and Neck Cancer (HNC) patient management continues to be paralleled with the costly incidence of bone related pathologies. Despite our efforts, the incidence of osteoradionecrosis (ORN), late pathologic fractures, and non-unions in this setting remains largely unchanged. It is estimated that 5 to 10 percent of patients undergoing high dose radiotherapy for HNC will develop ORN and its debilitating complications. It is commonly accepted that the pathologic effects of radiation on bone formation and healing are mediated through the mechanisms of vascular damage, direct cellular depletion and diminished function of the existing cells responsible for the generation and maintenance of osteogenesis. The global hypothesis of this proposal is that the mechanisms of vascular damage and diminution in cellular number and function can be prevented or reversed with therapeutic manipulations to allow for prophylaxis of ORN and radiotherapy induced non-unions. To investigate this hypothesis, we propose the utility of Deferoxamine—an angiogenic factor, and Amifostine—a cellular radioprotective agent. The effects of these agents will be explored in our unique murine model of radiotherapy-induced non-union after mandibular fracture repair. Our methods will consist of the irradiation of four groups of Sprague Dawley rats divided as follows: No therapy, Amifostine (AMF) pre-treatment, Deferoxamine (DFO) therapy, and a combination of AMF and DFO. All groups will undergo mandibular fracture with external fixator repair and will be allowed to complete a 40-day consolidation period according to our established protocol. Upon completion, detailed clinical and gross assessments will be utilized for the development of ORN. Micro-Computed Tomography (µCT) and Histology will be utilized to analyze bone quality, cellularity and mineral production.
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