Stem cell spray for the treatment of burns
Australian surgeon Fiona Wood has developed a method of healing burns using a suspension of stem cells obtained from the skin of the patient. In addition to the fact that only a small piece of tissue is now required for treatment, the method combines qualities such as simplicity, convenience and high efficiency.
Usually, the treatment of severe burns involves additional damage: the surgeon must cut off a flap of skin from another part of the patient's body in order to grow it on the burned area. Such an operation is effective, but causes additional suffering to the patient and increases the area in need of healing. The proposed relatively new technology offers an alternative way of treating burns, less traumatic than autotransplantation. Just a small piece of living skin tissue allows surgeons to use a special kit to prepare a suspension of basal skin cells – epidermal stem cells – and spray the solution directly onto the burn surface. The results of such a procedure are comparable to skin grafting.
The stem cell spray is intended for the treatment of second-degree burns, in which only the upper layers of the skin (epidermis and dermis) are damaged, and the subcutaneous fat remains intact. The healing of even more severe third-degree burns still cannot do without skin grafting.
The technology is based on several types of cells concentrated at the junction of the two upper layers of the skin – these are progenitor cells and pigment cells (melanocytes). With the help of a special small set of equipment called ReCell, the surgeon can assemble and prepare these cells for the treatment of a burn area of about 1 m2. The kit itself is a tiny laboratory, provided with all the necessary materials, and in shape and size resembles a case for sunglasses.
After cutting off a small piece of tissue near the burn site (it is best to conduct a biopsy as close as possible to achieve maximum compliance with the color and texture of the skin), the doctor places it together with an enzyme solution in a tiny incubator. The enzyme promotes the release of the necessary cells from the dermo-epidermal junction, the surgeon scrapes them from both layers and prepares a healing suspension. The resulting mixture is sprayed onto the wound, populating the burn site with basal cells taken during biopsy.
Currently, treating any burn with a skin graft means using the same technique that was widely used by doctors 30 years ago. The current practice of treating extensive burns requires transplantation of donor skin flaps, the size of which often ranges from one quarter to the full area of the entire burn. ReCell allows you to limit yourself to a small biopsy and reduces the procedure to simple manipulations directly in the operating room, using a fully equipped set of tools and tools. The cell spray covers a burn 80 times larger than the biopsy area.
Not all experts share the opinion that second-degree burns require skin grafting or other special methods. "Most burns heal without grafting skin flaps, using a conventional bandage. Autologous (obtained from the patient himself) products for the treatment of burns have a long history, and they all involve high costs and low efficiency," says Robert Sheridan, a surgeon from Boston.
Preparations are underway for a broad clinical trial, the essence of which is to compare the effectiveness of skin grafting and ReCell technology. Patients in the course of this trial will simultaneously be a control: if, according to surgeons, the victim of a second–degree burn has received sufficiently serious injuries and needs skin transplantation, half of the burn will be treated in the traditional way, and the other half with a cellular spray.
As an alternative to skin grafting, ReCell is effective only in the case of second–degree burns - more serious third-degree burns destroy the layer of subcutaneous tissue that could be populated with ReCell cellular solution. But even in the case of more serious burns, cell spray can be useful in combination with other approaches, as well as to eliminate scars. Wood, the author of the development, as well as the head of the burn department at Royal Perth Hospital, uses ReCell to remodel scars – a procedure in which a cellular spray helps to populate the scar skin with melanocytes so that its color matches the natural skin tone of the patient.
The use of ReCell cell spray technology in combination with other traditional methods of treatment can improve the quality and speed of healing. In addition, in patients with third-degree burns, there is no need for scar remodeling, since the method is initially aimed at a qualitative result.
Ruslan Kushnir
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on Technology Review: Spraying on Skin Cells to Heal Burns09.11.2009