Is peripheral blood cell balanced altered by the use of fresh frozen bone block allografts in lateral maxillary ridge augmentation?

BACKGROUND: The relationship between the immune response and red and white blood cell homeostasis is cited in literature, but no studies regarding the balance of these cell populations following maxillary bone-graft surgeries can be found. AIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate the possible impairments in the blood cell balance following fresh-frozen allogeneic bone-graft augmentation procedures in patients who needed maxillary reconstruction prior to implants. MATERIAL AND METHODS: From 33 patients elected to onlay bone grafting procedures, 20 were treated with fresh-frozen bone allografts and 13 with autologous bone grafts. Five blood samples were collected from each patient in a 6-month period (baseline: 14, 30, 90, and 180 days postsurgery), and the hematological parameters (erythrogram, leukogram, and platelets count) were accessed. RESULTS: All evaluated parameters were within the reference values accepted as normal, and significant differences were found for the eosinophils count when comparing the treatments (30 days, p = .035) and when comparing different periods of evaluation (allograft-treated group, baseline × 180 days, p ≤ .05 and 90 × 180 days, p ≤ .01; autograft-treated group, 30 × 90 days, p ≤ .05 and 30 × 180 days, p ≤ .05). CONCLUSIONS: Both autologous and fresh-frozen allogeneic bone grafts did not cause any impairment in the red and white blood cell balance, based on quantitative hemogram analysis, in patients subjected to maxillary reconstruction.