Blood flow to palatal mucosal grafts in mandibular labial vestibuloplasty measured by 133Xe clearance technique.

ABSTRACT

In 11 subjects, the blood flow to alveolar and palatal mucosa was measured by intra-mucosal injection of 133Xe. Later, mandibular labial vestibuloplasty was performed with mucosal grafts in all of them. The use of a stent was omitted. The subjects were followed by clinical observation and by blood flow measurements up to 6 weeks postoperatively. At certain intervals (3 and 10 days, 4 and 6 weeks), 133Xe clearance in the graft was determined. Under normal conditions, the mean blood flows to the alveolar and to palatal mucosa were 53.2 +/- 12.9 and 58.3 +/- 3.5 ml/100 g/min, respectively. The difference between them was statistically insignificant (P greater than 0.05). The graft blood flow was 13.4 +/- 3.2 and 21.7 +/- 15.0 ml/100 g/min on the 3rd and 10th days after operation. The decrease in both compared to normal values was statistically significant (P less than 0.001). The blood flow reached almost normal levels (46.2 +/- 16.9 ml/100 g/min) and above (63.9 +/- 9.7 ml/100 g/min; P less than 0.05) at 4 and 6 weeks after operation, respectively. These results were in agreement with the clinical observations. The palatal donor area healed in 3-5 weeks. The graft showed complete adaptation with the surrounding tissue and healing in 4-6 weeks. Our results also indicated that injections in the graft do not retard graft healing.