A retrospective clinical review of extracellular matrices for tissue reconstruction: equine pericardium as a biological covering to assist with wound closure .

Complex wounds frequently undergo surgical excision and grafting in an attempt to optimize the wound environment and to facilitate wound closure. Individuals who have not responded to conventional non-surgical therapies and dressings may not be good candidates for autologous grafting. A fully flexible, cross-linked, acellular equine pericardium biological xenograft was used to address difficult-to-treat and recalcitrant wounds of the lower extremity. Twenty-four complex wounds of varying etiology, including diabetic, venous, trauma, vasculitic, and post-surgical wounds underwent surgical debridement and xenograft application. The individual results were reviewed in a retrospective study over an 18-month period. The duration of the wounds ranged between 3 months to 2 years. The average time to wound closure was 5.96 weeks. The median time to closure was 6 weeks. No significant adverse events were noted. The data review suggests the use of equine pericardium as a xenograft and biological cover may significantly benefit patients with difficult-to-heal wounds. Additional animal and clinical studies are in progress to help understand the mechanism of action of the xenograft in the clinical environment.