Head of Endodontics Tainan, Tainan, Taiwan (Republic of China)
Objectives: This study aimed to analyze the clinical outcomes of large radicular lesions treated with decompression as a clinical treatment protocol in the future.
Methods: This study analyzed the patients who underwent decompression for large radicular lesions from November 2002 to October 2019. A total of 18 patients were eligible for evaluation. The collected data were processed and analyzed using statistical software R (The R Foundation, Vienna, Austria) (version 4.2.2). The Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test was used to compare whether the original size of the radicular lesions affects the reduction ratio and reduction rate of radicular lesions. A p value less than 0.05 was considered a statistically significant difference.
Results: A total of 8 cases were completely healed, and the remaining 10 cases were in the process of healing. Of the 18 cases, the effect of decompression was evaluated as extremely effective in 55.3% lesions, moderately effective in 28% lesions, and poorly effective in 17% lesions. There was no significant difference between the tooth position and the sex of patient on the percentage of reduction and reduction rate of the radicular lesions. The larger lesion, the greater percentage of reduction and reduction rate of the radicular lesions, and there was a statistically significant difference (p = 0.013).
Conclusion: Decompression may offer a conservative treatment option for large radicular lesions. The follow-up radiographic images after decompression all showed significant shrinkage of the lesions. A larger sample size is needed for further study of decompression for large radicular lesions.