Clinical evaluation of a biodegradable collagen membrane in guided tissue regeneration

A bio-resorbable type I collagen membrane was investigated as a barrier for guided tissue regeneration. Ten human subjects with at least one pair of contralateral periodontal lesions with probing pocket depths of greater than or equal to 5 mm and radiographic evidence of greater than or equal to 40% bone loss were included. Each patient underwent contralateral surgical flap procedures. A collagen barrier was adapted to the tooth in the experimental defect and the flap replaced and sutured. The controls consisted of the same procedure without the placement of the barrier. Standardized measurements of change in probing attachment levels and fill of intrabony defects were obtained at the time of surgery and 1 year later at the time of surgical re-entry. The differences in change of probing attachment levels and amount of bone fill between individual test and control sites were compared utilizing the student's t-test for paired samples. The mean probing attachment gain in the test sites was 0.56 +/- 0.57 mm, and there was a mean probing attachment loss of 0.71 +/- 0.91 mm in the control sites (P less than 0.01). The gain of bone in test lesions was 1.16 +/- 0.95 mm, while no gain was observed in the control lesions (P less than 0.01). The results of this study demonstrated that sites treated with a collagen barrier comprised of cross-linked bovine Type I collagen exhibited significantly better healing as compared to control sites over the 1-year period of the study.