Silver-impregnated porcine xenografts for treatment of meshed autografts.

Meshing of skin grafts has gained wide acceptance as a means of conserving donor sites in cases of extensive skin loss. In smaller injuries, meshed grafts have the advantage of providing for more efficient wound drainage than unmeshed grafts. Covering widely meshed skin grafts with meshed allografts has been found to result in reductions in infection-related rejection of the allografts. Porcine xenografts have been widely used as temporary wound coverings as they protect the wounds and provide a hospitable environment for reepithelialization. We have used silver-impregnated porcine xenografts to cover meshed skin grafts with excellent results. The porcine xenograft provides a protective wound covering that promotes epithelialization in the interstices of the meshed graft, and the silver ion in the collagen of the xenograft provides an improved means of controlling infection. Three cases are described.