Wound Repair Using Discarded Skin Tissue From the Rolled Edge of Pressure Injury: A Feasibility Study of Five Cases

Introduction. New techniques are needed to manage chronic wounds in patients with contraindications to standard of care treatment. Objective. This case series investigated the viability and proliferative activity of split skin cells harvested from the discarded rolled edge of PIs for use in promoting reepithelialization in chronic wounds. Materials and Methods. The harvested skin was minced into particles with a scalpel. The structure of the skin particle was shown with hematoxylin-eosin staining. The viability of cells, isolated from skin particles, was identified with MTT. Skin particles were transferred to PIs. The size of PI was recorded before grafting and 1 month after grafting. Results. From January 2018 to January 2019, 5 patients (1 female, 4 males; mean age, 72.6 years ± 6.1) were enrolled in this study. The mean ulcer size was 27.8 cm2 ± 17.7. The cells from particles could survive and be amplified in vitro. One month after grafting, the average ulcer size was 16.2 cm2 ± 7.3. Conclusion. The split skin particles harvested from the rolled edge of the wound consisted of keratinocytes and keratinized tissues and were found to be viable and proliferative. These particles had the capacity to survive and expand on the granulation tissue surface of PIs, which indicates this procedure could accelerate reepithelization in chronic wounds.