FDA APPROVES STRATAGRAFT, A SUTURABLE SKIN PATCH FOR THE TREATMENT OF THERMAL BURNS

Edited by, JASPER VICTORIA

The approval of the stratagraft,by the FDA, now provides a novel element in treatment of intense thermal burns usually caused by or when in direct contact with fire, hot surfaces, scalding water or steam,etc. ,which are indicated for surgery. The approval was granted to Stratatech,a mallinckrodt company.

In the usual practice, the deeply burnt skin are removed and is replaced with an autograft,that is, skin from some other area of the patients body is taken and placed in the area of the burn for it to heal. But, the drawback lies in that, it leaves behind a wound in the area from which the graft tissue has to be removed.

Stratagraft is a topical application that helps in reducing or avoiding the healthy tissue needed for grafting. It is a cellularized, bi-layered construct produced by growing the keratinocytes and dermal cells together.It should be grafted by a health care provider, the burnt tissue heals and new skin tissue develops over the graft with time.

It was considered as xenograft transplantation,as the skin cells were derived from mice earlier,but as the trials proceeded, the human keratinocytes and dermal cells were used to develop the stratagraft tissue.

Two randomized clinical trials were conducted with 101 patients having intense thermal burns,who achieved complete closure of the burn wound in a single stratagraft.

Graft rejection was not reported in any of them. But, pruritus,warmth in the local site, hypertrophic scar, erythema and swelling were observed as common side-effects as in other methods and materials of grafting.