This study evaluated two different materials as
pericardial substitute,namely porcine
pericardium treated by basified trivalent
chromium sulfate (BTCS) and potcine
pericardium treated by glutaraldehyde(GD).In dogs(n= 12), a piece 8× 5 cm2 of the pericardium was excised through a left thoracotomy and the defect was closed with a patch made by BTCS and GD of equal size sutured side by side. Three dogs were sacrificed at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months each after implantation.The patches were studied. Macroscopically, the BTCS patches had no adhesion between the graft and the host epicardium in 11 , while only mild
pericardial sac adhesion in 1. But the GD patches had mild adhesion in all.Histopathologic finding showed no fibrosis in the BTCS patches ,but the GD ones had fibrosis in all. No degenera tive changes or calcified foci were found in both BTCS and GD patches.Another group of 6 dogs were implanted with only BTCS patch inoculated staphylococci on the surface of the graft. The dogs were killed after 6 to 12 months. 5 had abscess formation on the surface of grafts with intrapericardial adhesion. One dog died of pyothorax 13days after implantation.The results demonstrated that BTCS ,a new chemically modified material ,is better than GD for pericardial substitute.BTCS has been utilized in 25 patients and a followup of four years revealed excellent results.