Split skin grafts for pretibial lacerations
Date First Published:
March 1, 2000
Last Updated:
May 13, 2005
Report by:
Sunil Dasan, Specialist Registrar (Mayday University Hospital, Surrey.)
Search checked by:
Kambiz Hashemi, Mayday University Hospital, Surrey.
Three-Part Question:
In [patients with pretibial flap lacerations] is [a primary skin graft or simple wound edge approximation] better at [reducing the time to healing]?
Clinical Scenario:
A 69 year old woman has slipped and caught her leg on a chair. She attends your A&E department with a large flap laceration to the anterior aspect of her right leg. She has no other injuries, no other significant past medical history and has good social support. you want her wound to heal quickly so that she may get back to her normal activities as soon as possible. You wonder whether a primary split skin graft or a simpler procedure using the existing flap would be best to achieve this.
Search Strategy:
Medline 1966- week 4 March 2005
Embase 1980- week 13 2005
Cochrane Issue 1 2005
Embase 1980- week 13 2005
Cochrane Issue 1 2005
Search Details:
Medline: [pre-tibia$.mp OR pretibia$.mp] AND [exp wounds and injuries/ OR lacerat$.mp. OR injur$.mp OR exp skin flaps/ OR exp skin transplantation] limit to human and English language. 64 articles found
Embase: [pre-tibia$.mp. OR pretibia$.mp.] AND [exp injury/ OR lacerat$.mp OR exp skin transplantation/ or exp skin graft/ or skin flap/] limit to human and English language 54 articles found
Cochrane: Pretibial [all fields] 23 records found
Embase: [pre-tibia$.mp. OR pretibia$.mp.] AND [exp injury/ OR lacerat$.mp OR exp skin transplantation/ or exp skin graft/ or skin flap/] limit to human and English language 54 articles found
Cochrane: Pretibial [all fields] 23 records found
Outcome:
72 papers found of which only one was relevant and of sufficient quality for inclusion. This paper is shown below.
Relevant Paper(s):
| Study Title | Patient Group | Study type (level of evidence) | Outcomes | Key results | Study Weaknesses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pretibial lacerations: a comparison of primary excision and grafting with "defatting the flap". Haiart DC, Paul AB Chalmers R et al. 1990, UK | 25 patients with pretibial lacerations Primary excision under local anaesthetic and split skin graft versus defatting of flap and steristrips |
Prospective randomised controlled trial | Duration of hospitalisation | 11.0 v 16.1 days | Small numbers No independent assessment of wounds |
| Further operative treatment | 0 v 4 patients | ||||
| Proportion of defect not covered at 10 days | 0 v 26.9% | ||||
| Time to complete healing | 13.2 v 40.7 days |
Author Commentary:
Earlier studies only compared primary split skin grafting with grafting after failed conservative management or studied conservative management alone. This study shows that primary split skin grafting under local anaesthetic shortens the time to full healing of pretibial flap lacerations by nearly four weeks though a larger prospective randomised controlled trial would be needed to confirm this. Early mobilisation has been shown to be beneficial in the elderly after such a procedure which makes management as an out-patient the preferred option.
Bottom Line:
A primary split skin graft performed under local anaesthetic significantly reduces the healing time for pretibial flap lacerations and can be done successfully as an out-patient procedure.
References:
- Haiart DC, Paul AB Chalmers R et al.. Pretibial lacerations: a comparison of primary excision and grafting with "defatting the flap".