Is modified Carnoy's solution as effective as Carnoy's solution in terms of amount of bone necrosis and depth of penetration?

Carnoy's solution, a chemical cauterisation agent, has been indicated as one of the adjuvant treatment modalities for odontogenic keratocyst. In 2000, after the ban of chloroform many surgeons adopted the use of Modified Carnoy's solution. The purpose of this study is to compare the depth of penetration and amount of bone necrosis of Carnoy's versus Modified Carnoy's solution on the mandible of Wistar rats at different time intervals. Twenty-six male Wistar rats of six to eight weeks old, weighing approximately 150-200 grams, were allocated for this study. The predictor variables were type of solution and application time. The outcome variable was depth of penetration and amount of bone necrosis. Carnoy's solution was applied on the defect on the right side of the mandible and Modified Carnoy's solution on the left side for five minutes on eight rats, eight minutes on eight rats, and 10 minutes on eight rats. All specimens were subjected to histomorphometric analysis done using Mia image AR software. Univariate ANOVA test, and paired sample t test was done to compare the results. The depth of penetration for Carnoy's solution was more than Modified Carnoy's solution in the three different exposure times. Statistically significant results were observed at five minutes and eight minutes. The amount of bone necrosis was more in Modified Carnoy's solution. The results were not statistically significant at the three different exposure times. To conclude, when one wants to use Modified Carnoy's solution, the minimum exposure time should be 10 minutes to achieve similar results as those of Carnoy's solution.