Summary
In this report, we evaluated the effectiveness of scrotal tissue as an autogenous
free skin graft to treat cutaneous degloving injuries of the distal limb in dogs.
Surgery was performed on two male intact dogs with distal extremity degloving wounds.
Dog #1 had a tarsal degloving wound with exposure of the distal tibial and tarsal
bones. Dog #2 had a degloving injury over the metacarpals. Wounds were treated with
daily wetto- dry bandages in order to develop a healthy bed of granulation tissue
at the graft recipient site. Scrotal ablation castration was performed once the recipient
site had been prepared. Subcutaneous and adipose tissue were excised from the scrotal
graft and mesh slits were created. The graft was applied to the recipient site with
monofilament absorbable simple interrupted sutures. Bandaging was performed postoperatively,
and bandage changes occurred four, seven, nine and 11 days postoperatively. Follow-up
was performed at 30 days. In dog #1, the tarsal degloving injury graft had first intention
healing with 100% graft take on day 11. In dog #2, the metacarpal degloving injury
graft had 90% graft take on day nine, with second intention healing adjacent to the
fifth digit pad. The scrotum is often discarded at the time of scrotal ablation castration.
Distal extremity wounds can be successfully treated with free skin grafts. In male
dogs, the scrotum is a viable option as a full thickness mesh free graft for distal
extremity reconstructive surgery.
Keywords
Free graft - skin graft - degloving injury - scrotum - dog
