Intraoperative assessment of maxillary perfusion during Le Fort I osteotomy

Intraoperative maxillary blood flow was measured using laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) in two groups of patients undergoing orthognathic surgery. Group 1 (n = 14) consisted of patients undergoing Le Fort I osteotomy and group 2 (n = 8) consisted of patients undergoing isolated mandibular osteotomies. In group 1, the mean gingival blood flow (GBF) decreased significantly over time during the course of the operation from 29.5 mL/min/100 g of tissue to 13.2 mL/min/100 g of tissue (P = .0001). The mean GBF did not change significantly over time in group 2 (P = .39). The results of this study demonstrate that 1) LDF may be used to measure intraoperative GBF during Le Fort I osteotomy with an acceptable level of variability, and 2) maxillary GBF decreased significantly over time during Le Fort I osteotomy procedures.