Reappraisal of fascia lata grafts for reconstruction of chest wall defects.

Large chest wall defects require surgical reconstruction to ensure structural stability and to prevent flail chest. We used autologous fascia lata grafts to reconstruct skeletal chest wall defects in 8 consecutive patients. Sufficient chest wall stability was obtained; and no complications, such as flail chest, infection, or seroma, have been observed in any of the cases to date.