title: THE IMPACT OF CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS ON MEDICAL IMAGING AND RADIOTHERAPY REGIMES FOR THE PAEDIATRIC PATIENT.
abstract: Daily rhythmic changes are found in cellular events in cell cycle, DNA repair, apoptosis and angiogenesis in both normal and tumour tissue, as well as in enzymatic activity and drug metabolism. In this paper, we hypothesize that circadian rhythms need to be considered in radiation protection and optimization in personalized medicine, especially for paediatric care. The sensitivity of the eye lens to ionizing radiation makes the case for limiting damage to the lens epithelium by planning medical radio-imaging procedures for the afternoon, rather than the morning. Equally, the tumour and normal tissue response to radiotherapy is also subject to diurnal variation enabling optimization of time of treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Physics, Institute of Clinical Sciences, Sahlgrenska Cancer Center,Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, SE 413 45 Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Forssell-Aronsson
authors.affiliation: Department of Biosciences, University of Durham, Mountjoy Science Site, Durham DH1 3LE, UK.
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Quinlan
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis; D002453:Cell Cycle; D002648:Child; D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000532:radiotherapy; D000069079:Radiation Exposure; D011839:Radiation, Ionizing