Integra artificial skin^® in use for full-thickness burn surgery: Benefits or harms on patient outcome

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Fette, Andreas^{; *}

Affiliations: Paediatric Surgery, Children's Hospital Lucerne, Switzerland Sc Candidate, Wound Healing Research Unit, College of Medicine, University of Wales, Cardiff, UK

Correspondence: [*] Address for correspondence: Dr Andreas Fette, c/o Paediatric Surgery, Children's Hospital, Spitalstrasse, CH-6000 Lucerne 16, Switzerland. Tel.: +41 41 205 2509; Fax: +41 41 205 3190; E-mails: andreas.fette@ksl.ch; andreas.fette@gmx.de.

Abstract: Full thickness burns usually lead to a great loss of skin and physiological instability because human skin is not only the biggest organ of our body it is the most important protection barrier as well. As natural skin has only limited options to recover, there is a great need for the development of synthetic skin in order to save patients with these high total body surface area full-thickness burns. Many artificial skin substitutes have been developed for this purpose so far. The benefits and harms of one substitute – Integra artificial skin® – are discussed in a critical literature review.

DOI: 10.3233/THC-2005-13602

Journal: Technology and Health Care, vol. 13, no. 6, pp. 463-468, 2005