Repair of radiation damage and radiation injury to the spinal cord

Radiation myelopathy is a rare but devastating injury to the spinal cord that usually results from an excessive radiation dose. In this chapter, we discuss the traditional and current understandings of the pathogenesis of this injury. A distinction is made between radiation damage, which occurs at the subcellular level, and radiation injury, which occurs at the tissue and organ level in response to radiation damage. Recent findings regarding the amelioration and treatment of both radiation damage and radiation injury are explored. These studies are promising developments but, as always, there are attendant caveats.