Immediate Regrafting of the Split Thickness Skin Graft Donor Site Assists Healing.

Publication/Presentation Date

5-1-2017

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Delayed or even lack of healing of a split-thickness skin graft (STSG) donor site is a potential problem with elderly patients or those with poor wound healing capabilities. A proactive solution that may minimize this risk is to regraft that donor site using otherwise discarded skin graft remnants.

METHODS: A prospective, nonrandomized, consecutive study was designed to compare the time to healing of the commonly used anterior thigh STSG donor site in patients who had routine dressings (n = 113) versus those with comorbidities known to adversely affect wound healing and had planned regrafting (n = 204). Those comorbidities included age (≥65 years), diabetes mellitus, peripheral vascular disease, chronic renal disease, and chronic steroid use.

RESULTS: The average number of comorbidities in the regrafted subgroup versus those not regrafted was 1.41 and 0.31, respectively. This was considered to be a significant difference (

CONCLUSIONS: Regrafting the STSG donor site of patients with known comorbidities, that is, those expected to have delayed healing in general, had a mean time to reepithelialization comparable with conventionally treated individuals. This was considered a direct consequence of recycling rather than discarding any excess skin graft materials when so indicated and can be a proactive solution to a potentially cumbersome dilemma.

Volume

5

Issue

5

First Page

1339

Last Page

1339

ISSN

2169-7574

Disciplines

Medicine and Health Sciences

PubMedID

28607863

Department(s)

Department of Surgery

Document Type

Article

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