Acellular allodermis in burn surgery: 1-year results of a pilot trial

We grafted 10 sites on 6 children with limited (< 25%) areas of body surfac e available for donor harvest with an acellular allogenic dermis and a thin autograft. Matched control sites were grafted with autograft alone. Study site autografts (0.0074 +/- 0.0007 in, median 0.006 in, range 0.006 to 0.01 2 in) were thinner than control site autografts (0.0102 +/- 0.0008 in, medi an 0.012 in, range 0.006 to 0.013 in), with a P value of .015. Endpoints we re initial engraftment tin percent) as judged by a blinded experienced obse rver and Vancouver scar scores. The 6 children (3 girls and 3 boys) had an average age of 5.2 +/- 0.9 years (range 2.8 to 10 years) and an average bur n size of 68.7% +/- 6.7% total body surface area (range 47% to 85% total bo dy surface area). The 10 study and control sites were treated with 10 separ ate procedures; 9 of the procedures were reconstructive and 1 was performed for the excision of an acute burn; Successful initial epithelialization wa s noted at 7 days postburn for 83% +/- 3.4% (range 60% to 95%) at the cryop reserved acellular human dermis sites and 83.3% +/- 4.3% (range 60% to 98%) at the control sites (not significant, P = .96). At a mean follow-up inter val of 43.7 +/- 3.6 weeks (median 52, range 26 to 52 weeks), the difference s between the study and control sites in the total mean (pigmentation, vasc ularity, pliability, and height) of the patients) Vancouver scar scores wer e not different.