title: The effect of epinephrine in local anesthesia on the survival of full- and split-thickness skin grafts: an experimental study.
abstract: The effect of local anesthesia containing epinephrine on the survival of split- and full-thickness skin grafts remains unclear. In this blinded study, Xylocaine with or without epinephrine was injected subdermally prior to harvesting of split-thickness and full-thickness skin grafts on the dorsum of rabbits. After procurement, the grafts were placed back into their original donor sites. Statistical analysis of graft survival 7 days postoperatively revealed a significant decrease in survival for the full-thickness skin grafts treated with Xylocaine with epinephrine as compared with similar grafts without epinephrine (p less than 0.0005). No significant difference was noted for split-thickness skin-graft survival in grafts treated with Xylocaine with and without epinephrine (p greater than 0.1).
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wolfort
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Rohrich
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Handren
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: May
mesh_terms: D000772:Anesthesia, Local / Q000379:methods*; D000818:Animals; D004837:Epinephrine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005451:Fluorescein Angiography; D006085:Graft Survival / Q000187:drug effects*; D011817:Rabbits; D011897:Random Allocation; D016038:Skin Transplantation / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D004837:Epinephrine