WOUND-HEALING POTENTIAL OF CULTURED EPITHELIUM

Cultured epithelial autografts (CEAU) represent a lifesaving technique for providing rapid, permanent wound coverage and skin replacement in massive burns. This therapy, initiated only 10 years ago, is now used in burn treatment worldwide and is part of standard burn therapy in over 80% of the burn units in the U.S.A. Moreover, recognition of the wound healing promotional capabilities of cultured keratinocytes (whether autologous or allogeneic) has lead to their use solely for this purpose in the treatment of many other types of disease and injury, dramatically increasing the scope of their clinical application over the past decade. This article is a review of our studies on the biological effects of cultured epithelial grafts on wound healing in treated patients and represents a presentation given at a 1992 symposium on Innovative Technologies in Wound Care in Philadelphia, PA sponsored by the Graduate Hospital Wound Care Center.