title: The failure to survive of autogenous free grafts of whole gracilis muscles in dogs.
abstract: An experimental study was undertaken to define the limits in size (if any) of successful free autogenous grafts of skeletal muscle. In 8 dogs, 16 gracilis muscle grafts were transplanted to the contralateral hind limb. The left hind limb served as a control for the right side, which contained paralyzed muscle. Macroscopic, microscopic, and EMG analyses demonstrated a complete failure of the free muscle grafts to take and survive. We have shown that one can exceed the limitations to the size of a successful muscle graft. Perhaps future investigators will define exactly what the maximum viable size is.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004285:Dogs; D006084:Graft Rejection; D006614:Hindlimb; D009132:Muscles / Q000473:pathology / Q000637:transplantation*; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous