[Skin engineering for burns treatment]

Abstract

Severely burned patients need effective and permanent wound coverage. The outcome of massive burn injuries has improved with the use of cultured epithelial autografts (CEA), despite their fragility, frequent failure to take, high cost and long-term tendency to contract. Combining CEA with dermal substitutes provides earlier skin closure and satisfactory functional results. Another promising line of research is skin regeneration with epidermal stem cells, which have the capacity to differentiate into keratinocytes, to promote wound repair, and to regenerate skin appendages. Human mesenchymal stem cells have been evaluated in radiation-induced skin damage.