Measurement of blood flow by the 133Xe clearance technique to grafts of amnion used in vestibuloplasty

The purpose of this study was to determine the blood supply to lyophilized amniotic membranes when used as graft material in vestibuloplasties. 133Xe clearance technique was used to measure the blood flow to the grafts. A total of 20 patients had either Clark (10) or Kazanjian (10) vestibuloplasties. The blood flow was determined at 2–3 days preoperatively and at 10 and 30 days postoperatively. The preoperative mandibular anterior alveolar mucosal blood flow was 34.4±10.7 and 23.1±13.1 ml/100 g/min for the Clark and Kazanjian groups, respectively. Ten days after vestibuloplasty operation with lyophilized amniotic membrane graft application the blood flow to the graft increased to 56.8 ± 45.4 and 62.6 ± 30.4 ml/100 g/min for the Clark and Kazanjian groups, respectively. The corresponding values at 30 days postoperatively were 24.6 ± 10.2 and 22.2 ± 9.2 ml/100 g/min, indicating the return to normal levels. The changes in blood flow as a function of time were statistically significant in each group (P < 0.05). Our results demonstrated the angiogenic effect of lyophilized amniotic membranes until mucoid degeneration after 10–15 days.