Grafts
What is a Graft?
A ‘graft’ can be any piece of tissue dissected from the human body that is moved from one site to another in order to achieve the goal of reconstruction. No blood vessels are included in the tissue, meaning that the graft has to ‘pick up’ a new blood supply from its new position. The area in which a graft is therefore placed, has to have a good blood supply, in order to increase the chance of graft survival or ‘take’.
Grafts are generally limited skin, bone, nerve and cartilage, but can also include mucosa, amnion and sclera.
Types of Graft
Skin grafts can be used to re-surface wounds after burns, road accidents, or when reconstructing surgical wounds.
Bone graft is commonly used when attempting to bridge the gap between the ends of two broken bones in order to maintain bone length or when attempting to stimulate bone healing in a case of non-union.
Cartilage grafts are commonly used in nasal reconstruction and can be taken from the nasal septum itself (septal cartilage), the ear (conchal cartilage) or the rib (rib cartilage).
Nerve grafts are used when a segment of nerve has been lost after an accident or post cancer resection, to bridge the resulting gap. A new nerve then has to re-grow through the grafted nerve in order to reach its desired target.
Bone graft is commonly used when attempting to bridge the gap between the ends of two broken bones in order to maintain bone length or when attempting to stimulate bone healing in a case of non-union.
Cartilage grafts are commonly used in nasal reconstruction and can be taken from the nasal septum itself (septal cartilage), the ear (conchal cartilage) or the rib (rib cartilage).
Nerve grafts are used when a segment of nerve has been lost after an accident or post cancer resection, to bridge the resulting gap. A new nerve then has to re-grow through the grafted nerve in order to reach its desired target.
Dr Parviz was the Clinical Director for Plastic Surgery at the Royal London Hospital, the UK’s largest trauma centre.
drparvizsadigh@mail.com
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