Mesenchymal stem cells in post-surgical cavities of large maxillary bone lesions.

Abstract

BACKGROUND Recent studies have highlighted that MSCs are capable of regenerating large bone defects when used in combination with bone substitutes and increasing allo-graft osteointegration. We investigated the hypothesis that autologous MSCs may lead to increased bone regeneration and reduced healing time in post-surgical cavities of large maxillary bone lesions. METHODS This study involved 10 patients (TEST GROUP) (6 males and 4 females). All patients had expansive mandibular lesions larger than 3 cm. From the surgical point of view, the 10 patients were treated with MSCs (withdrawal of the iliac crest bone marrow BMMSs) directly into the post-surgical cavity, without the addition of filler. RESULTS and radiological data, in the postoperative, were compared to those of patients who did not receive any grafting of MSCs. The 7 patients with mandibular lesions showed a rapid and very good healing with an 85-90% ossification of the major defect at 12 months. CONCLUSIONS Through the use of stem cells a greater ossification of the residual cavity (85-90%) was observed at 12 months after surgical enucleation in contenitive defects.