THE EFFICACY OF SIMVASTATIN DRUG INJECTION FOR REGENERATION OF INDUCED SMALL PERFORATED TMJ DISC (AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY)

Objectives: The current study aimed to evaluate arthroscopically, macroscopically and histo-pathologically the efficacy of Simvastatin drug intra-discal injection for stopping degeneration and increasing regeneration of induced perforated TMJ disc.
Methodology: Ten goats (20 joints) were incorporated in the study. Stab perforations were performed in all TMJs’ discs in both sides of each goat under arthroscopic guidance, on joints of all animals the left TMJ acted as a control group without injecting any solutions after disk perforation, whereas the right TMJ acted as the experimental group by injecting the simvastatin hydrogel in the perforation site.
Results: Arthroscopic, macroscopic and histopathological evaluation revealed that the injected perforation sites had higher scores (regeneration) than the non-injected perforation sites. The present study proved that injection of simvastatin hydrogel 5mg/ml promotes autogenously chondrogenic disc repair and retard disc degeneration, which provides an alternative strategy for biological TMJ disc perforations repair in a less expensive and easily applied method.
Conclusion: the current study recommended that, arthroscopic simvastatin hydrogel injection can be safely conducted on perforated TMJ disc patients.