Autografting is considered to be the standard of care for severe burns. The process involves the surgical harvesting of healthy skin from an uninjured site on the patient and transplanting the skin graft to the injury, resulting in two wounds that require care. Not only do patients experience increased pain, but both the burn injury site and the donor site are at increased risk of infection, scarring and impaired skin function.
However, results of a Phase 1b clinical trial, published in Burns, the journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries, show that wound treatment with StrataGraft, an investigational regenerative tissue, is comparable to autografting. Eliminating the need for skin harvesting resulted in study participants reporting less pain.
“In the last two to three decades, survival among burn patients has increased, but there have been few advances in the treatment of severe burn wounds. New approaches are needed to help minimize the challenges associated with autografting, the current standard of care,” said James H. Holmes IV, M.D., director of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center’s Burn Center and corresponding author of the multicenter study. “The results of this Phase 1b study of StrataGraft are encouraging and suggest that this investigational regenerative tissue could potentially reduce or eliminate the need for autografting, which may minimize pain and other risks.”
Media contacts:
Joe McCloskey, jmcclosk@wakehealth.edu, 336-716-1273
Eryn Johnson, eryjohns@wakehealth.edu, 336-713-8228