Lower limb skin grafts are thought to have higher failure rates than skin grafts in other sites of the body. Currently, there is a paucity of literature on specific factors associated with lower limb skin graft failure. We present a series of 70 lower limb skin grafts in 50 patients with outcomes at 6 weeks. One-third of lower limb skin grafts went on to fail with increased BMI, peripheral vascular disease, and immunosuppressant medication use identified as significant risk factors.

Skin grafts were performed successfully in the majority of patients. Graft complication and failure rates compare well with the world literature. The use of prophylactic antibiotics was the only predictor of successful graft take.

Delay from the time of testicular pain until surgical exploration is important for the chances of testicular salvage and is made up mostly of pre-hospital delays. Patients under the age of 14 had longer delays pre-hospital.

In conclusion, we showed that the SF-36 score is a good measure of QOL in this patient group. Those patients on the elective waiting list for repair of IH have a significantly impaired QOL compared with age-, sex- and comorbidity-matched controls.

In all patients more than the age of 80 years admitted to General Surgery, Taranaki Base Hospital, morbidity and mortality results were acceptable when compared with published work. Risk-adjusted prediction of mortality compared favourably with observed outcomes, but more data are required to validate this tool in elective patients.