Abstract

ARVELO ALVAREZ, Francisco; COTTE, Carlos; PEREZ, Pedro  and  SOJO, Felipe. Preliminary Study of the Treatment of Chronic Skin Ulcers with Tissue-engineered Skin Equivalents. Medisur [online]. 2015, vol.13, n.6, pp. 748-754. ISSN 1727-897X.

Ulcers of the lower extremities have high prevalence and incidence. Their chronicity and frequent recurrences are two of their most important characteristics. Despite proper etiologic treatment and the great variety of dressings available, the healing rate and recovery speed remain low. Therefore, we conducted a study to obtain skin substitutes for clinical application by isolating and cultivating keratinocytes, which were seeded on a fibroblast-containing fibrin gel at high density. Hence, a new practical and inexpensive skin equivalent of straightforward and easy-to-perform transplantation was developed. Before starting the clinical trials to evaluate its advantages and applicability, we conducted a preliminary test to determine if the changes to the standard technique affected its feasibility and action. For this purpose, we implanted the new equivalents into six patients with chronic ulcers unresponsive to treatment. Outcomes in these patients showed that skin equivalents were feasible, effective, easy to handle and had rapid action on target tissues. All patients who completed the procedure recovered. An excellent example was a patient with a chronic lesion refractory to multiple conventional treatments that had been present for six months.

Keywords : skin ulcer; leg ulcer; therapeutics; tissue engineering; tissue culture techniques.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )