Skin Constructs

The development of three-dimensional skin constructs by tissue engineering has made it possible to avoid autografts when treating deep pressure wounds or second- and third-degree burns in children [24]. The use of skin autographs, which involves removing a large surface of skin tissue from the thigh or scalp to cover the wound, is a traumatic technique.

A medical study conducted by researchers from University Hospital of Lausanne, Switzerland recently published in The Lancet, described the use of NEOCUTIS constructs made from fetal skin cells to heal severe burns in children. The skin constructs are made of an equine collagen matrix containing seeded cells originating from a dedicated fetal skin cell bank. Considering the ease of this technique and the successful clinical results on ulcer and burn patients, the constructs may have great potential to cure acute and chronic wounds.