Comparison of Treatment Effect of the Dried Bovine Amniotic Membrane and the Cultured Allogenic Keratinocytes in the Partial Thickness Burn Management

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: In the partial thickness burn management, despite of several advantages, the use of human amniotic membrane has been limited. The authors applied dried bovine amniotic membrane(DBAM) to overcome disadvantages of amniotic membrane for partial thickness burn and to compare the effectiveness of cultured allogenic keratinocytes(CAK) that have been recently used for the management of burn. METHODS: From August 2007 to May 2008, 16 patients with partial thickness burn were assigned to this study. The ages ranged from 12 to 59, with the average of 38. Either DBAM or CAK were applied, and the secondary dressing was removed on the following day. To compare treatment effect, time for epithelization, Vancouver scar scale and chromameteric results were evaluated. RESULTS: The time for epithelization was 10.1 days and 9.1 days in DBAM and CAK, respectively, which are shorter than the previous 2-3 weeks. At the follow up Vancouver scar scale was 2.8 in DBAM and 3.0 points in CAK, both of which showed good results. The results of chromameter showed that the L*, a*, and b* values of the area applied DBAM were 60.1, 13.6, and 13.3, respectively, and the values of the area applied CAK were 60.1, 12.4, and 12.4, respectively. It was found that the skin color of the healed area after burn was darker, the redness was higher, and the yellowness was lower. After dressing, no significant side effects were observed, and in the cases of applying CAK, it was inconvenient as the moving area had to be fixed. CONCLUSION: As CAK, DBAM has several advantages such as the shortening of the epithelization period, reduction of scar and pigmentation, and convenient application, etc., it is an effective method for the partial thickness burn management.