ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:Autologous micro-skin graft covered with alogeneic skin has become a major means for repair of extremely severe burn wounds. Due to the limitation of the source of alogeneic skin, heterogeneous skin (pigskin) or artificial skin serves as a vector to cover the wound on the clinical use. OBJECTIVE: To observe the curative effect of thin-thickness micro-skin pulping covered with heterogeneous skin for repair of burn wounds in comparison with blade-thickness micro-skin pulping covered with heterogeneous skin. METHODS:A self-control study was performed in 36 patients with severe burns of bilateral limbs. There were 42 pairs of wounds, 32 of which were at joint sites. One or two pairs of III-degree burns treated with escharectomy were selected from each patient for self-control comparison. Covered with heterogeneous skin, thin-thickness micro-skin pulping and blade-thickness micro-skin pulping were used in the trial and control groups, respectively. The expansion ratio was controled at 1:8-1:12 in al patients. Wound healing time, degree of scar hyperplasia within 6 months to 2 years after transplantation, and ratio of reconstruction surgery at joint sites were observed and compared. The removed scars by surgery were analyzed based on the total score of the Vancouver Scar Scale. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The average wound healing time was (44.7±1.24) days in the trial group and (49.6±1.41) days in the control group, and there was a significant difference between the two groups (P 0.05). The reconstructive surgery ratio of the trial group was 38%, significantly lower than that of the control group (59.38%;P < 0.01). The total score on the Vancouver Scar Scale was less in the trial group than the control group (P < 0.05). These findings suggest that the thin-thickness micro-skin covered with heterogeneous skin is likely to be a better treatment to repair large ful-thickness skin burn by increasing the thickness of micro-skin, and it can obtain better wound healing quality.