Assessment of local blood flow with laser Doppler flowmetry in irradiated mandibular and frontal bone, an experiment in Göttingen minipigs

PurposeThe aim of this study was to investigate local blood flow changes in the mandibular bone compared to the os frontale after irradiation in various doses.Materials and methodsThis study used an animal experiment with 16 female Göttingen minipigs. Three groups of four animals were irradiated with equivalent doses of 25, 50 or 70 Gray on the mandible and os frontale and four animals served as control. Three months after irradiation laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) was used to record local blood flow on the left mandible and in the irradiated area on the os frontale. At 6 months measurements were repeated. Descriptive and univariate analyses were conducted and p-values lower than 0.05 were considered statistically significant.ResultsLocal blood flow measurements in the mandible were significantly higher compared to the os frontale. In the os frontale and mandible there was no significant change in the measurements with increasing irradiation dose.ConclusionWe found a non-significant decrease in LDF values with an increase in radiation dose in the mandible and non-significant changes in the os frontale at 3 and 6 months. We consider this to represent the process of on-going fibrosis affecting the local blood flow in the mandible.