Evaluation of Radiographic Outcomes of Alveolar Graft Associated with Premaxillary Osteotomy Performed with rhBMP-2.

Objective: To evaluate the influence of filling material and timing of surgery on radiograph outcomes of alveolar grafting with premaxillary osteotomy. The null hypothesis was that radiographic outcomes would be similar with both rhBMP-2 (rhBMP-2G) and cancellous bone from the iliac crest (IG), regardless of the timing of surgery.

Design: Cross-sectional study with consecutive sampling of 56 periapical or occlusal radiographs taken 12 months after surgery.

Setting: A single tertiary craniofacial center.

Patients/participants: Twenty-eight patients with complete bilateral cleft lip and palate and mean age of 13 years. The individuals underwent bilateral alveolar grafting associated with premaxillary osteotomy (AG + PO) with rhBMP-2 or cancellous bone from the iliac crest.

Interventions: Experienced maxillofacial surgeons used the same surgical technique in both groups. AG + PO were assigned as success or failure by 3 blinded raters based on modified Bergland and SWAG scales.

Main outcome measures: The influence of filling materials and timing of surgery on radiographic outcomes was verified by Fisher's exact test and chi-square test (P < .05).

Results: There was no significance variation between the mean age of participants in the rhBMP-2G and IG (P = .471). Scales showed almost perfect reliability (agreement rate = 96.4%; K = 0.85). rhBMP-2G and IG had similar success rates with modified Bergland scale (85.7% and 82.1%) and SWAG scale (92.9% and 82.1%), respectively. However, only modified Bergland scale found influence of age on radiographic outcomes (P = .025).

Conclusions: AG + PO performed with rhBMP-2 and iliac crest bone showed similar radiographic success rates, regardless of the timing of surgery.