Platelet gel biotechnology applied to regenerative surgery of intrabony defects in patients with refractory...

Platelet gel biotechnology, a method which has all the components of "tissue engineering" techniques, potentiates the already known healing process of guided tissue regeneration procedures (GTR) by multiplying the number of molecules that activate the healing response and by grafting in the host site various cell types, among which stem cells. Here are reported cases of patients affected by refractory generalized aggressive periodontitis treated with the association GTR and platelet gel biotechnology to verify if the contribution of the gel would produce superior results than those obtained by surgery alone which had been previously applied to the same sites with negative results. Three patients in therapy from 4 to 11 years, already subjected to surgery (GTR) and antibiotic therapy, were reoperated with the adjunct of autologous platelet gel. At a distance of 15.2 months (range 11-17 months) the operated sites showed a reduction in probing pocket depth of 3.4 mm (range 2.8-4.8 mm) and a gain in clinical attachment level of 3.1 mm (range 3-3.5 mm). The association of platelet gel biotechnology with GTR in the surgical treatment of intrabony defects of refractory generalized aggressive periodontitis patients seems to produce results similar to those reported for patients with chronic adult periodontitis. The observations at 15.2 months indicate that there is a stability over time of the results in those sites where previous surgical therapy had shown relapse.