• Abdul Malik Mujahid, Farrukh Aslam Khalid, Noor Ali, Yawar Sajjad, Husnain Khan, and Moazzam Nazeer Tarar.
• Department of Plastic Surgery, Jinnah Burn and Reconstructive Surgery Center / Allama Iqbal Medical College Lahore, Pakistan.
• J Coll Physicians Surg Pak. 2020 Feb 1; 30 (2): 163-167.

ObjectiveTo compare outcome of split thickness graft with and without vacuum-assisted closure over the scalp soft tissue defects in terms of graft take and complications.Study DesignRandomised controlled trial.Place And Duration Of StudyDepartment of Plastic Surgery, Jinnah Burns and Reconstructive Surgery Centre, Lahore, from June 2017 to June 2018.MethodologyPatients with scalp soft tissue defects were recruited for the study. Patients with history of poly trauma, hypertension and diabetes mellitus were excluded. Patients were randomly divided into two groups by balloting lottery method. In group A, simple dressing were done after split thickness skin graft; and into group B, VAC dressing was applied after split thickness skin graft. Outcome variables (graft take and complications rate at recipient site) were assessed clinically at 2 weeks and analysed by Chi-square test with p-value <0.05 was taken as significant.ResultsMean age of 120 patients was 33.44 ±14.65 years. Graft take was seen in 24 (40.0%) patients in group A and in 56 (93.3%) patients in group B (p = 0.0001). Seroma was recorded in eight (13.3%) in group A (simple dressing) patients and one patient (1.67%) in group B (VAC dressing, p = 0.015), hematoma was seen in 04 (6.67%) versus 0 (0.0%), respectively (p = 0.042) and graft edge dehiscence in 03 (5.0%) versus 0 (0.0%), respectively (p = 0.079).ConclusionOutcome of split skin graft over scalp soft tissue defects with VAC dressing is better than simple dressing in terms of graft take and complications rate.

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