Open Access
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Arch Plast Surg 2023; 50(01): 106-115
DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1756297
Research/Experimental
Original Article

Is “Initial Size of the Graft the Real Culprit behind Primary Contraction of Full-Thickness Skin Graft”? – A Cross-Sectional Study

Madhubari Vathulya 
1   Department of Burns and Plastic Surgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India
,
Shalinee Rao 
2   Department of Pathology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India
,
Akanksha Malik 
2   Department of Pathology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India
,
Smita Sinha 
3   Department of Community and Family Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India
,
Nikhilesh Kumar 
4   Department of Burns and Plastic Surgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India
,
Akshay Kapoor 
1   Department of Burns and Plastic Surgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India
,
Yogesh Bahurupi 
3   Department of Community and Family Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India
› Author Affiliations
Funding The project has been funded by an intramural grant: IM/RC108/2016/33.
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Abstract

Background Primary contraction of full-thickness graft has been traditionally quoted to be 40%. There are lacunae in literature to elaborate on the factors influencing it ever since.

Methods About 75 subjects who underwent full-thickness grafting procedures to resurface small defects were included in the study. The initial and final graft dimensions after primary contraction were traced on X-ray templates and the percentage of contraction was evaluated using the graphical method. This was further correlated with age, collagen, elastic matrix metalloproteinases-1 (MMP-1) and -2 content along with dermal thickness of the skin specimen sent from the graft.

Results The primary contraction of the graft had a very significant correlation only with the initial size of graft harvested with a linear regression of 33.3% and a Spearman's correlation of 0.587 significant at a p-value of 0.001.

Conclusion This study though preliminary tries to highlight an important factor that primary contraction of grafts is a physical phenomenon independent of its contents like collagen, elastin, or MMP-1 and -2 or age and dependent on its initial size of harvest instead.

Keywords

skin grafts - elastin fibers - collagen - dermal thickness

Authors’ Contributions

All the authors have been involved in data collection, interpretation, and analysis of data. The first author has also been involved in the conceptualization of the study in addition.


Note

The paper was presented as an oral presentation at APSICON November 2018 National Conference.


Declaration

All schematic figures have been made by the first author.


Ethical Approval

Ethical approval IM/RC108/2016/33.


Supplementary Material



Publication History

Received: 12 November 2021

Accepted: 31 March 2022

Article published online:
06 February 2023

© 2023. The Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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