[Clinical use of lyophilized porcine skin]

The split-thickness lyophilized porcine skin has been proved to be an effective biologic wound dressing, which is convenient for storage, transport and usage. It can be used as a temporary skin coverage for fresh burn wound and the wound remained after escharectomy or used as mesh grafts to prevent infection and loss of body fluids so as to improve the general condition. It can also be used for covering the infective granulation wound caused by burn or injuries to control bacterial growth and further contamination. In these circumstances, the lyophilized xenografts tend to autolysis and can persist in a rather short time. It should be replaced repeatedly in order to get a surgical clean wound surface suitable for autografts. More than 100 cases with burn or injuries have been treated with the recommended method since 1979. Results showed that the lyophilized porcine skin is a good choice as a satisfactory substitute for allografts which often served as a biologic dressing.