A COMPOSITE SKIN SUBSTITUTE (GRAFTSKIN) FOR SURGICAL WOUNDS - A CLINICAL-EXPERIENCE

BACKGROUND. Bioengineered skin substitutes offer tissue replacement wi thout requiring a donor site and might produce better healing. OBJECTI VE. To evaluate the recipient's response to grafting a bioengineered s kin equivalent onto acute surgical wounds. METHODS. Graftskin, which i s made of: 1) a bovine collagen matrix containing human fibroblasts, a nd 2) an overlying sheet of stratified human epithelium, ions grafted onto the excision sites of 15 patients. RESULTS. Blood and cell studie s for toxicity were negative. Graftskin proved easy to handle, and a t ypical clinical appearance of the skin substitute during ''take'' was detected. Compared with expectations improved healing occurred. Twelve of 15 patients had initial clinical takes. CONCLUSION. Graftskin was not clinically rejected and was not toxic. It often appeared to take a nd produced better than expected healing.