TREATMENT OF GIANT CONGENITAL NEVI WITH CRYOPRESERVED ALLOGENEIC SKINAND FRESH AUTOLOGOUS CULTURED EPITHELIUM

Giant congenital nevi, confluent over 10% to 52% of the body surface a rea, were treated in 5 pediatric patients with allogeneic skin and aut ologous cultured epithelium (ACE), The lesions were excised to the adi pose tissue and the wound was covered with cryopreserved or fresh allo grafted skin. Later, the skin surface was abraded and ACE was applied. The size of the cultured graft ranged from 360 to 900 cm(2) (average, 630 cm(2)). In 3 patients the wounds healed well. Allograft cryoprese rvation averaged 50 days. The average interval to ACE application afte r skin grafting was 10 days. Histological rejection was minimal, In 2 patients the cultured grafts did not take. The wounds were covered wit h split-thickness skin grafts. In one such patient, a fresh allograft was used. In the other, ACE was applied 27 days after skin grafting. V igorous rejection reaction was observed. Cryopreservation of allogenei c skin may be important in the treatment of human leukocyte antigen-mi smatch patients with giant nevi, and ACE should be applied within 10 d ays of skin grafting.