Postoperative follow-up and outcome measurement
bone loss, nasal regurgitation, infection, oronasal fistula, hematoma
BONE LOSS, DEHISCENCE, INFECTION, HEMATOMA, COMPLICATIONS
Postoperative clinical follow-up was performed once a week for the first month and once a month for the subsequent 12 months. The clinical follow-up was to determine complications, such as flap dehiscence, infection, hematoma, oronasal fistula, and nasal regurgitation.Radiographic measurements were obtained preoperatively, 6, and 12 months postoperative to assess bone density, graft volume, and the rate of bone loss. The radiographic measurements were performed using standard CBCT scanning protocols with standard settings (90 kV, 6.3 mA, exposure period, 12 s, and voxel size, 0.2 mm). The same radiologist operating the CBCT equipment and Planmeca software performed the scanning (Romexis Planmeca, Planmeca, Finland). Radiographic evaluations were performed the day following surgery (as a baseline) as well as six and twelve months later.The bone density (BD) was measured by Hounsfield unit (HU) values from the CBCT scans that were calculated by “Annotations Measure Rectangle.” Two blinded radiologists independently measured the averaged HU values to determine the final value (Fig. Bone volume and bone density measurementRegarding the bone volume (BV), it was measured by the freehand marking on the axial slices by the inherent feature of the software (Fig. In addition, the bone loss percentage (BL%) was determined using the following equation: