Prospective Comparison of a Bovine Collagen Dressing to Bovine Spray Thrombin for Control of Haemorrhage of Skin Graft Donor Sites

A prospective trial compared spray thrombin to a bovine collagen haemostatic agent on skin graft donor sites. Twenty donor sites had half of the area covered with the collagen sheet and the other half sprayed with thrombin. Each treatment was covered with a surgical sponge, pressure was applied for 10 min and then the sponges and collagen were removed. A second sponge was then placed on each wound for 2 min. These sponges were tested for oxyhaemoglobin by spectrophotometry. The results showed that the half of 18/20 donor sites covered with collagen lost more blood than the half treated with spray thrombin. These results suggest that thrombin is superior to collagen sheets for donor sites treated in this manner.