title: Autologous epidermal cell suspension: A promising treatment for chronic wounds.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Chronic wounds have become an increasing medical and economic problem of aging societies because they are difficult to manage. Skin grafting is an important treatment method for chronic wounds, which are refractory to conservative therapy. The technique involving epidermal cell suspensions was invented to enable the possibility of treating larger wounds with only a small piece of donor skin. Both uncultured and cultured autologous epidermal cell suspensions can be prepared and survive permanently on the wound bed.
  
  
  METHODS
  A systematic search was conducted of EMBASE, Cochrane Library, PubMed and web of science by using Boolean search terms, from the establishment of the database until May 31, 2014. The bibliographies of all retrieved articles in English were searched. The search terms were: (epithelial cell suspension OR keratinocyte suspension) and chronic and wound.
  
  
  RESULTS
  From the included, 6 studies are descriptive interventions and discussed the use of autologous keratinocyte suspension to treat 61 patients' chronic wound. The various methods of preparation of epidermal cell suspension are described. The advantages and shortcomings of different carriers for epidermal cell suspensions are also summarised. Both uncultured and cultured autologous epidermal cell suspensions have been used to treat chronic wounds.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although the limitations of these studies include the small number of patient populations with chronic wounds and many important problems that remain to be solved, autologous epidermal cell suspension is a promising treatment for chronic wounds.
authors.affiliation: Burns and Plastic Department, Miyun County Hospital of Capital Medical University, 383#, Yangguang Road, Miyun County, Beijing 101500, China.
authors.forename: Hongliang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Wounds Repair and Tissue Regeneration Laboratory, The First Affiliated Hospital, General Hospital of PLA, 51#, Fucheng Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100048, China; Department of Pharmacy, General Hospital of Beijing Military Region, 5 Nanmencang Road, Dong Cheng District, Beijing 100700, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Wounds Repair and Tissue Regeneration Laboratory, The First Affiliated Hospital, General Hospital of PLA, 51#, Fucheng Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100048, China. Electronic address: zcp666666@sohu.com.
authors.forename: Cuiping
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Wounds Repair and Tissue Regeneration Laboratory, The First Affiliated Hospital, General Hospital of PLA, 51#, Fucheng Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100048, China. Electronic address: fuxiaobing@vip.sina.com.
authors.forename: Xiaobing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Fu
mesh_terms: D002908:Chronic Disease; D000078404:Epidermal Cells; D006801:Humans; D015603:Keratinocytes / Q000637:transplantation*; D016038:Skin Transplantation; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000601:surgery*
keywords: Chronic wounds; Epidermal cell; Suspension; Wound healing