The 6 Month Follow up of Treatment of Full Thickness Chronic Wounds Using of a Novel Skin Morcellation Device for Skin Grafting

Introduction: Non-healing wounds can represent a significant clinical challenge. Autografting with freshly harvested minced full-thickness skin grafts can enhance healing but can also present technical challenges. We present the 6 month follow up of the use of a novel skin morcellating device that morcellates full thickness skin with high viability which pro- vides for the use of full thickness skin grafting for chronic wounds with a closed donor site. Methods: Six patients with long standing chronic wounds (4-16 week) that had failed standard of care were included in the study. Wound etiol- ogies were post-surgical, post traumatic, and diabetic foot wounds. Under local anesthesia full thickness skin was harvested and processed using a novel mechanical skin morcellation device. These processed graft morsels were then placed into a prepared wound bed with various expansion ratios (2 – 10). The graft was then dressed with a non-adhesive compression dressing which was removed after 1 week. Wounds were then dressed with daily non-adhesive dressings and patients were followed post operatively and assessed for wound closure. Patients were reassessed for long term durability of the grafts and long term characteristics. Results: All wounds (100%) healed during the study period with healing times ranging from 3 weeks to 10 weeks. All donor sites healed sponta- neously with no complications. There were no graft infections and no graft losses. All patients continued to ambulate during the healing period. During the expanded study period of six months, Five patients continued to have closed wounds with one patient with a history of venous stasis had a 1cm x 1 cm area of breakdown in the center of the graft with possible etiology of leg trauma in addition to the stasis diagnosis. Discussion: Full thickness skin that is mechanically morselized using a novel device designed to deliver high viability morselized full thickness skin grafts can be used to heal chronic wounds with sustained closure in various wound etiologies. These grafts in general show sustained healing over 6 months. Further studies are necessary to assess the healing potential of this device in various wound types and versus other wound treatment etiologies.