Dentascan an excellent tool for assessment of variations in the management of periodontal defects.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of the present study was to envisage the effectiveness of demineralized freeze-dried bone allograft (DFDBA) and bovine bone graft (BBG) for promoting defect fill in periodontal intrabony defects using dentascan. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 13 subjects (15 intrabony defects) aged between 24 and 56 years affected by moderate to severe periodontitis were randomly divided into Control (CG) and Test groups (TG1 and TG2). In CG only debridement, TG1 debridement plus DFDBA, and TG2 debridement plus BBG were performed. The clinical parameters probing pocket depth (PPD), clinical attachment level (CAL) was used. The radiological analysis was done by dentascan, which is a single-slice spiral computed tomographic scanner. Six months after, regenerative treatment clinical measurements were recorded. The bone fill was assessed using Dentascan as previously mentioned. RESULTS: PPD reduction and CAL gain were significant in all the groups after 6 months whereas, on intergroup comparisons, insignificant finding was observed both at baseline and after 6 months. Coronoapical bone status decreased significantly in all groups, buccolingual measurements decreased significantly in TG1 and TG2, but no such trend was seen in CG. Significant reduction in mesiodistal bone status was noticed only in TG1 whereas insignificant on intergroup comparisons. CONCLUSION: Dentascan-based analysis attested that DFDBA was superior to BBG.

Cytomegalovirus infection: its incidence and management in cytomegalovirus-seropositive living related liver transplant recipients: a single-center experience.

It is believed that antiviral prophylaxis decreases the incidence of cytomegalovirus (CMV) reactivation and disease. There are few data regarding weekly assays for CMV DNA after transplantation and the subsequent management of CMV. Here we report a cohort of living related liver transplantation (LRLT) patients who were treated for invasive CMV disease or for CMV infections if they were receiving steroids for rejection. Patients who underwent liver transplantation at our center between September 2006 and August 2010 and were recipient-positive/donor-positive (R(+) /D(+) ) were prospectively included. Patients were tested for CMV DNA 3 weeks after transplantation. CMV DNA-positive patients underwent weekly DNA monitoring until there were 2 consecutive negative reports. Those who developed CMV disease or had rising DNA titers while they were on treatment for rejection were treated. A Cox regression analysis was performed for factors predicting survival. Two hundred sixty-six of the 306 R(+) /D(+) patients were CMV DNA-negative 3 weeks after transplantation, and 40 had detectable DNA. One of the DNA-negative patients developed CMV disease after treatment for rejection with methylprednisolone. Thirty patients had <500 copies/mL, and 10 had ≥500 copies/mL. Two of the 30 patients with DNA levels < 500 copies/mL developed CMV disease. Six of the 10 patients with DNA levels ≥500 copies/mL developed disease. CMV disease occurred in 9 of the 306 patients (2.9%). One patient received treatment for a rise in DNA titers while he was receiving steroids. There was a significant correlation between steroid administration for acute cellular rejection (ACR) and CMV reactivation (P = 0.003) and disease (P = 0.002). A multivariate analysis showed that CMV reactivation/disease did not predict survival. There was no difference in survival between CMV DNA-positive patients and CMV DNA-negative patients (P = 0.68). In conclusion, CMV reactivation is common after LRLT (13%), but the disease is rare (2.9%) without prophylaxis in CMV immunoglobulin G-positive recipients. The administration of steroids for ACR strongly correlates with CMV reactivation and disease. CMV reactivation and disease did not affect survival in our patient cohort.

Assessment of combination techniques in enhancing the regenerative potential of tricalcium phosphate graft in treatment of infrabony periodontal defects.

AIMS: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate and compare the clinical outcome of infrabony defects following reconstructive surgery with the use of tricalcium phosphate (TCP) alone; TCP and citric acid (CA) root conditioning; and TCP, CA, and oxidized regenerated cellulose (ORC) membrane. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-nine systemically healthy subjects with vertical infrabony defect were initially selected based on intraoral periapical radiographs and clinical examination to record probing pocket depth (PPD) and clinical attachment level (CAL). Only 21 defects revealed two-walled configuration on surgical debridement. These defects were selected and randomly allotted to the study groups. Group 1 defects were treated with TCP, group 2 with TCP+CA, and group 3 with TCP+CA+ORC. PPD, CAL, defect depth (DD), and level of alveolar crest (AC) were evaluated at the time of initial surgery and after 6 months at surgical re-entry. These measurements were utilized to calculate PPD reduction, CAL gain, defect fill (DF), %defect fill (%DF), and crestal resorption (CR). STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: A paired t-test was used for assessing changes in each group. Unpaired t-test was used for intergroup comparisons. RESULTS: All three groups showed statistically significant PPD reduction, CAL gain, DF, and %DF, but insignificant CR at the end of 6 months. On intergroup comparison, no statistically significant differences were noted between the groups for all the parameters. CONCLUSION: Efficacy of combination techniques using TCP+CA; TCP+CA+ORC in treatment of periodontal infrabony defects is at least equal to that of TCP alone.