title: Preliminary experience with cultured epidermal autograft in a community hospital burn unit.
abstract: Initial experience with cultured epidermal autograft (CEA) in a community hospital burn unit is described. Five applications of CEA to three patients (mean burn size, 59% total body surface area) were made. Final graft "take" of CEA ranged from 10% to 80%. Healed CEA is cosmetically superior to meshed autograft and appears to form less hypertrophic scar tissue. CEA is more sensitive to infection than meshed autograft. A review of the literature concerning topical antibiotic use with CEA is included. This experience with CEA demonstrates that large burns can be successfully managed with this modality in a community hospital burn unit setting.
authors.affiliation: Allentown Hospital-Lehigh Valley Hospital Center, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Barillo
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Nangle
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Farrell
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002053:Burn Units; D002056:Burns / Q000601:surgery*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D000078404:Epidermal Cells; D005260:Female; D006764:Hospitals, Community; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D016038:Skin Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous