Better alternative to skin grafts

RAFT’s Smart Matrix™ has the potential to become the new standard-of-care in the treatment of a variety of full thickness, life-threatening skin wounds.

Skin, the largest organ in the body, can suffer wounds that are difficult to treat and heal. Burns and skin ulcerations in particular can challenge any doctor and can easily lead to premature death. Although the outer layer of the skin (epidermis) can respond to treatment, the tough, thick inner layer of skin (dermis) does not reform during the healing of a full thickness wound.

“When a burn or chronic wound such as a leg ulcer severely damages skin, the body can never regenerate full thickness skin,” says Dr Julian Dye, RAFT group leader and Smart Matrix™ project leader. If the patient recovers, they are most times left with disfiguring scares which can impede body movement.

In addition, due to the amount of burns someone suffers, there might not be enough undamaged skin left for grafts or the poor health of the patient might forbid taking skin grafts. “For some patients, conventional grafts also come with the risk of simply creating a new wound site elsewhere on the body which cannot heal completely,” says Dr Dye.

But even in the healthiest of patients, removing of skin for grafts can easily lead to infection and is extremely painful.

London firefighter Richard Richards, who suffered severe burns while fighting a house fire, described the pain of having undamaged skin removed for grafts this way. “Go back to your childhood and remember the most painful skin scrap you ever had. Now multiply that pain by about a billion times.”

However, there may soon be a better alternative which will increase the survivability of patients.

Smart Matrix™ is an artificial skin scaffold which encourages rapid growth of blood capillaries when placed into a wound bed in the dermis. Much like how a scaffold supports the work around a home’s roof repairs, Smart Matrix™ also provides a scaffold, giving the body something to regenerate new skin around.

During the wound healing process, Smart Matrix™ attracts cells into the matrix and promotes growth of blood capillaries which is critical for the wound healing process. The scaffold is completely reabsorbed by the body within three weeks, by which time wound healing should have occurred.

All tests so far have been extremely encouraging and clinical trials should take place this year.