The construction of a skin-lined hemithorax in pigs

The feasibility of creating a skin-lined hemithorax was tested in 6 pigs. All the pigs survived intrapleural skin grafting, and within 3 weeks they doubled their mean initial weight from 16-3 plus or minus 1-6 kg to 32-4 plus or minus 2-6 kg. In 4 (out of 4) pigs the skin-lined cavity was opened successfully to the exterior; it had reproduced closely the contour of the hemithorax. It is concluded that it is feasible to construct a skin-lined hemithorax with a mean volume of 276-3 plus or minus 19-6 ml in pigs, whose mean body weigh was 37-5 plus or minus 2.5 kg. This confirms earlier work in the rat.