Root-end surgery with leucocyte- and platelet-rich fibrin and an occlusive membrane: a randomized controlled clinical trial on patients' quality of life

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of the adjunct of leukocyte- and platelet-rich fibrin (LPRF) to root-end surgery (RES) on the patients' quality of life during the first week post RES. Patients in need of RES were recruited for an open randomized controlled clinical trial (RCT) with a 2 x 2 factorial design. They were randomly allocated to the test (+LPRF) and control (-LPRF) group. Each group was subsequently divided into two strata: with or without an occlusive membrane (Bio-GideA (R), Geistlich Biomaterials, Switzerland; BG). After RES, the patients completed daily for 1 week a visual analog pain scale (VAS) and a 5-point Likert-type scale questionnaire concerning activity impairment, occurrence of symptoms, and medication use. Fifty patients were included, equally divided between the test and control group. Only one patient in the -LPRF+BG-group had to take additional antibiotics due to a persistent jaw swelling. There was no evidence (p 0.05) for a difference between the test and control group in VAS, occurrence of pain symptoms, impairment of daily activities, and medication use, over the 7 days and daily during the 7 days post RES. There was no statistical significant evidence for improvement of patients' quality of life during the first week post RES with LPRF in comparison with RES without LPRF. Although LPRF seems to be an inexpensive and autologous agent to reduce pain and swelling post RES, this RCT does not provide a statistical significant evidence for that.