living bandages

[dragon]

LONDON (Reuters) -- British scientists have developed "living bandages," made from a patient's own cells, which speed healing for burns and diabetes sufferers.

The biological bandages, launched at the British Burns Association meeting on Tuesday, have been used successfully on patients with severe burns and diabetics with chronic wounds.

"It is a convenient way of using the patient's own cells to heal wounds," Professor Sheila MacNeil, of the University of Sheffield, said in an interview.

"This is a simple dressing to take laboratory-expanded cells and deliver them back to patients' wounds."

MacNeil, who developed the bandages called Myskin with her Sheffield colleague Professor Robert Short, said the bandages can be placed on wounds five to seven days after a sample of cells has been taken from the patient and grown on specialized discs in the laboratory.

After the bandage has been applied to the wound, the discs release the cells and prompt new layers of skin to grow in the damaged areas. The bandage is removed after the cells have migrated to the wound.

Doctors have been using patients' own cells to heal wounds for years. Myskin, which was developed after 10 years of research, takes the technique further because the cells are grown on the bandage surface and it is put directly on to the patient's wound.

"It makes it simpler all round," said MacNeil. "You can get a much faster healing than you would have done without them."

Myskin has been successfully used on a young boy suffering burns to his legs and chest from a bonfire accident, a 28-year-old with similar injuries and an 80-year-old man who had been badly burned on his face and body.

There are around 1,000 severe burn injuries in Britain each year.

The biological bandages have also helped to heal chronic wounds from persistent ulcers in diabetes patients. In Britain alone, three million people suffer from chronic wounds and 5,000 foot or toe amputations are performed on diabetics because of ulcerous wounds.

MacNeil said Myskin also speeds the healing of donor sites where skin grafts are taken to replace burned skin.

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[Knife]

Can apply 5 to 7 days after cells are taken? You should have most wounds pretty much healed up by then. Perhaps chronic issues like a diabetic sore or a real nasty stage iv ucler or something. Burns? I can totally see this is where this will make the most good though.

[Broomstick]

I don't think this is for minor wounds. The sort of wounds this is intended for are those that will last a lot longer than a week if untreated.

[Purple]

Well the OP mentions burns. So I imagine this is basically designed to serve as a form of skin draft rather than a band aid.

[Knife]

I don't think this is for minor wounds. The sort of wounds this is intended for are those that will last a lot longer than a week if untreated.

Not many of those that you can guess 5-7 days in advance. I guess you could make an argument that for surgical wounds, a person could go in a week prior to the surgery to donate cells. Traumatic events, would make sense for certain trauma codes to put a cell collection into their protocol. Wound clinics for chronic issues like stage iv ulcers and other diabetic non healing ulcers.

That said, cost will limit a lot of that. A preponderance of stage iv and diabetic issues are usually from vulnerable and economically challenged people.

[madd0ct0r]

Knife, when my little brother had third degree burns, he was in hospital for two months. When they changed the bandages the blisters would be torn away and the the 3 year old would be screaming at my dad "why was he doing this to him?"
Something that could be placed and left would be a huge bonus.

[Knife]

Knife, when my little brother had third degree burns, he was in hospital for two months. When they changed the bandages the blisters would be torn away and the the 3 year old would be screaming at my dad "why was he doing this to him?"
Something that could be placed and left would be a huge bonus.

I totally agree, and mentioned, that burns would be the obvious place that would benefit.

[dragon]

I could also see it used for people that have slow healing like diabetes if they know in advance they need some for instance if the patient was going in for surgery. They could generate some tissue in advance of the surgery

[Broomstick]

Some non-healing wounds can take months or years to treat, so it would also be useful in cases where, for whatever reason, healing is not taking place. People with advanced cardiovascular disease can also be slow-healing, as an example.