A controlled comparative study of the use of porcine xenograft in the treatment of partial thickness skin loss in an occupational health centre.

Twenty-eight patients with partial thickness skin loss of the limbs, mainly due to burns, were treated on an out-patient basis in an occupational health centre. Thirteen patients were treated with porcine skin graft and the other 15 by the conventional method with paraffin gauze. The results showed that the median healing time was 13 days in the porcine skin graft group and 28 days in the control group. Other than healing time, the effects of porcine xenograft in reducing pain, infection and sickenss absence were far greater than those with conventional treatment. From a comparison of total dressing costs, it was estimated that for lesions of comparable size the cost of treatment with porcine xenograft was approximately one-third of that using paraffin gauze.