CONTROLLED CLINICAL-STUDY OF SKIN DONOR SITES AND DEEP PARTIAL-THICKNESS BURNS TREATED WITH CULTURED EPIDERMAL ALLOGRAFTS

Two clinical studies in donor sites and deep partial-thickness burns t reated with banked cultured human epidermal allografts are described. Ten burn patients were subjected to donor split-thickness skin harvest ing. The study was controlled, side-by-side comparative, blind, and ra ndomized. Banked cultured epidermal allografts promoted a faster reepi thelialization of the wounds; they epithelialized in an average of 6.9 days, whereas controls healed in an average of 11.1 days, giving a re duction of 37.8 percent in time to heal (p < 0.005). Allografted sites were less erythematous as compared with controls (p < 0.01), with mor e tendency to normopigmentation. In the deep partial-thickness burns s tudy, 10 patients with 18 burned wounds were treated. Wounds treated w ith cultured allografts showed complete reepithelialization in about 3 to 6 days. The two clinical studies showed that banked cultured epide rmal allograft promotes a significantly faster epithelialization of do nor sites and deep partial-thickness wounds. These results support the idea that cultured allografts should be used routinely to improve tre atment of burn patients and reduce their therapy time.