Fetal Skin Grafts Speed Burn Healing

One sample can create millions of grafts, a new study says

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 17, 2005 (HealthDay News) -- Grafts grown from fetal skin cells have healed burns in children faster than conventional grafts, Swiss physicians report.

And a single four-centimeter (about 2.5 inches) patch of fetal skin is enough to form a bank that can produce "several million" grafts for burn treatment, said the report.

The study findings, by doctors at the University of Lausanne, appear in the Aug. 18 online edition of the journal The Lancet.

The original fetal skin sample was taken from a women whose pregnancy was terminated at 14 weeks, the report said. The woman gave written permission for the procedure, which was monitored by ethics committees.

"The basic idea is that fetuses heal flawlessly when surgical procedures are done on them," said Dr. Patrick Hohlfeld, professor of gynecology and obstetrics, and lead author of the report.

Severe burns often are treated with autografts, which are skin patches taken from the patients themselves. "We though this would be an alternative to autografting, replacing it with allografting," Hohlfeld said. An allograft is a sample taken from a different source.

The report described the use of the fetal skin grafts for eight children with severe burns. The children's dressings were changed every three to four days for three weeks. The grafts were applied so easily that no staples or other fixative measures were needed, and anesthesia was used only for more reluctant children. All the wounds healed in a little more than two weeks, and no traditional grafts were needed, according to the study.

"Esthetic and functional results were excellent in all eight children with little hypertrophy [overgrowth] of new skin," the report said.

"There was tremendous stimulation of healing of the wounds, probably due to the fact that these cells produce a huge amount of growth factors," Hohlfeld said.

About 1.1 million burn injuries require medical attention each year, according to the American Burn Association, and about 50,000 people are hospitalized for serious burns. Skin grafts taken from another part of the body and grown in laboratory culture are used for smaller burns.

Large burns once were untreatable, because a skin graft could not be grown large enough to cover them. In recent years, however, scientists have pioneered artificial skin, with an inner layer of organic substances such as collagen from cows and an outer layer of protective plastic. The artificial skin is used for a few weeks, until patients are ready for surgery.

The work with fetal skin has "a tremendous potential, because taking just one skin graft gives you the potential to treat thousands of people," Holhfeld said." We don't need another biopsy. We have more than enough to keep us busy."

A product with similarities to the Swiss material is already on the market in the United States, said Dr. Gary Purdue, professor of surgery at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, and director of the burn center at Parkland Health and Hospital System.

It's called Dermagraft, which uses tissue taken from babies one day after birth, he said, adding, "How different is this [Swiss graft] from something that is available right now?"

The ideal material for burns and other complicated wounds is "something that is readily available, either permanent or promotes healing, is cheap and does not leave scars," Purdue said. "This is, I think, another step along the line of trying to achieve that."

More information

The Shriners Hospitals for Children offers tips on preventing burns.

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