Acellular Fish Skin Grafts for Management of Split Thickness Donor Sites and Partial Thickness Burns: A Case Series

Abstract

Abstract When treating large burns, autologous skin availability becomes a problem and burn surgeons rely heavily on allogenic and xenogeneic skin for temporary coverage after excision. Application of cadaveric and pig skin grafts carries a risk of auto-immune response and risk of viral and bacterial diseases transmission, and there are many cultural and religious rejections for use of porcine grafts. There has recently become available an alternative resource of xenograft using acellular fish skin (KerecisTM Omega3 Burn). This has been described as providing an effective, safe, efficient skin substitute, free of the risk of transmission of viral disease, and auto-immune reaction risk. Methods Ten patients having split-thickness skin grafting for burn injury were treated with the fish skin xenografts. Results There were no adverse reactions noted on the use of the fish skin grafts. No patient had any reaction to the fish skin and there was a zero incidence of infection. The handling of the fish skin was excellent, a robust and pliable xenograft that was easy to apply. The quality of donor site healing was judged to be good in all cases. Both the analgesic effect noted and the relatively short average times until 100% re-epithelialization are promising. We also illustrate two cases where the dressing was used to treat superficial burns.