The impact of autologous platelet concentrates on endodontic healing: a systematic review

The current literature was reviewed to determine the impact of autologous platelet concentrates (APCs) on endodontic healing. All types of clinical study designs concerning any kind of endodontic treatment involving the application of APCs were included. Two independent reviewers searched three databases (PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library) for studies, complemented by hand search, until 16/1/2016. From the 423 identified records, 48 articles met the inclusion criteria. Selected randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs) underwent Cochrane Collaboration's risk-of-bias assessment and data extraction. Only two RCTs showed low risk of bias. There was considerable heterogeneity between the RCTs with regard to the type of therapy, type of APCs, assessment method, and study quality, and therefore the data could not be analyzed quantitatively. The included case reports/series and non-randomized comparative studies underwent qualitative analysis with the revised Methodological Index for Non-Randomized Studies (MINORS) and data extraction. The two comparative non-randomized studies scored qualitatively high, though the MINORS-scores of the case series and reports were dispersed. APCs were involved in five endodontic treatment modalities, namely apexification, regenerative endodontic procedures, pulpotomy, apical surgery, and treatment of endoperio/perio-endo lesions. APCs seem to accelerate postoperative bone healing, augment the patients' postoperative quality of life, aid further root development, and support maintenance/regaining of pulp vitality. No adverse events were reported. APCs in endodontic treatments seem to contribute to the healing of soft and hard tissues, though there is a lack of long-term high quality clinical trials and standardized treatment protocols.