Spray-on Skin Cell Treatment Could Help Burn Victims

Posted on September 26, 2005

The BBC reports on a new procedure that might be a more effective treatment for burn victims. The treatment involves "spraying" new skin cells onto the burn victim. The BBC article explains the procedure:

A healthy skin sample is taken from the patient, and split in the laboratory to separate out the surface cells, known as keratinocytes.
These cells are then cultured for two to three weeks, and made up into a suspension.
At the same time other skin cell tissue from the patient is put through a different type of meshing machine, known as a meek mesher.
Instead of creating a string vest pattern of tissue, this machine cuts the skin sample into tiny little squares.
The cultured cells are then sprayed on to the small pieces of tissue and combine to create new skin for the patient.

The BBC reports that the procedure was helpful for a severly burned patient with burns on 90% of his body who the doctors said they may have "struggled to keep alive" without the new treatment. The new technology will no undergo another study involving more patients. Any improvement in helping burn victims would indeed be a wonderful advance in medicine.

HEALTH