title: Maximizing the safety of glycerol preserved human amniotic membrane as a biological dressing.
abstract: Preservation of human amniotic membrane (HAM) in glycerol 85% has been used clinically but the use of glycerol 98% can give the maximum virucidal activity and increases the safety of HAM.
  
  
  
  To determine the degree of clinical efficacy of HAM preserved in glycerol 98% as a biological dressing in management of donor site of split thickness skin graft (STSG).
  
  
  
  40 subjects were enrolled in this randomized, controlled study conducted in Al-Azhar University Hospitals from August 2013 to June 2014. We compared HAM preserved in glycerol 98% to vaseline gauze. Patients were randomly allocated to STSG donor site dressing with one of these materials. Outcome measures included pain scores at postoperative days 2, 6 and 10, time to re-epithelialization, and incidence of infection.
  
  
  
  Both groups were homogenous regarding age, gender, cause of burn and size. The HAM group showed significantly less pain on postoperative days 2 and 6 (4 and 2.7 vs. 5.6 and 4.2 respectively with p value <0.05). Shorter time to re-epithelialization was also found in the HAM group (11.7 vs. 15.4 with p value <0.05). No significant difference was found between both groups in the incidence of infection.
  
  
  
  HAM preserved in glycerol 98% is clinically effective as a biological dressing. The higher glycerol concentration increases the safety of HAM with retaining the clinical effect at the same time.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Surgery and Burn, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Almokhayyam Aldaem Street, Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt. Electronic address: prs.zidan@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Serag M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Zidan
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Surgery and Burn, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Almokhayyam Aldaem Street, Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Samy A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Eleowa
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Surgery and Burn, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Almokhayyam Aldaem Street, Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Mahmoud A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Nasef
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Surgery and Burn, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Almokhayyam Aldaem Street, Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Magdy A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Abd-Almoktader
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Surgery and Burn, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Almokhayyam Aldaem Street, Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Amr M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Elbatawy
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Surgery and Burn, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Almokhayyam Aldaem Street, Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Ahmad G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Borhamy
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Surgery and Burn, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Almokhayyam Aldaem Street, Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Mohammad A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Aboliela
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Surgery and Burn, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Almokhayyam Aldaem Street, Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Ahmad M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Surgery and Burn, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Almokhayyam Aldaem Street, Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Mahmoud R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Algamal
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000650:Amnion; D001684:Biological Dressings; D002056:Burns / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D005990:Glycerol; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016038:Skin Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D014021:Tissue Preservation / Q000379:methods*; D060053:Transplant Donor Site; D014945:Wound Healing; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D005990:Glycerol
keywords: Glycerol preservation; Human amniotic membrane; Skin graft donor site