Bio-engineering skin to treat severe burns: Military researchers are putting the final touches on a study of a "skin substitute" grown from a patient's own cells to treat complex burns and soft tissue injuries.
The new research study underway at the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research in San Antonio holds promise for treating burn patients, including those with severe, life-threatening wounds.
The treatment, called "engineered skin substitute," or ESS, combines tissue cultivated from a patient’s skin along with collagen-producing cells to replace the two top components of skin, the epidermis and dermis.
Using the patient’s cells avoids the need for foreign substitutes and lowers the chances of infection, which in turn avoids the need for immunosuppressants and reduces the number of surgeries required.
