The adjunctive use of platelet-rich plasma in the therapy of periodontal intraosseous defects: a systematic review

Background and Objective: The evidence for the efficacy of the adjunctive use of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) in periodontal intraosseous defects has not been systematically evaluated. The objective of this review was to address the focused question, 'What is the efficacy, with respect to clinical, radiographical and patient-centred outcomes, of combinations of PRP with other therapeutic bioactive agents/procedures, compared with the efficacy of the same agents/procedures without the adjunctive use of PRP in the therapy of periodontal intraosseous defects in patients with chronic periodontitis and without systemic diseases that could potentially influence the outcome of periodontal therapy?' by performing a systematic review of randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs) published in the dental literature in any language, up to and including September 2008. Material and Methods: Data sources principally included electronic databases, manually searched journals and contact with experts. In the first phase of study selection, the titles and abstracts, and in the second phase, full papers were screened independently and in duplicate by two reviewers. Results: In the first phase, 6124 potentially relevant titles and abstracts were examined. In the second phase, the full text of 20 publications was thoroughly evaluated. Eventually, 10 RCTs were selected. Conclusion: Diverse outcomes (positive and negative) have been reported for the efficacy of PRP combined with various therapeutic bioactive agents/procedures, reflecting the limited and heterogeneous data available and possibly suggesting that the specific selection of agents/procedures combined with PRP could be important. Additional research on the efficacy of each specific combination of PRP is necessary.