A chat with Dr. Richard Kagan about his use of allograft tissue as a burn surgeon, and what tissue donation means to him
Dr. Kagan is the Chief of Staff at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Cincinnati and Professor of Surgery at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Q: Describe why allograft skin is crucial to save and heal burn victims.
A: It provides a temporary wound cover until the wound is ready to accept the patient’s own skin or until the patient’s limited donor sites are available for autografting.
Q: Why do you use allograft skin for the treatment of burns, versus synthetic materials?
A: I use a combination of both, but 90% of the time fresh allograft is my preference because it will vascularize and adhere to the wound bed better. Allograft tissue creates a temporary wound cover that permits the patient’s condition to improve without the need to create an additional wound from the harvesting of autologous skin. My use is predominantly in deep and/or extensive burns in which case the allograft tissue is potentially lifesaving, but I also use it in the treatment of small burns, abrasion injuries and infected wounds because of its reliable effectiveness.
Q: What do you look forward to in terms of new innovations and new possibilities for tissue transplantation in the future?
A: I’d like to see day when the viability of allograft skin is actually measurable and repeatable so when a surgeon wants fresh or viable skin there’s a measure that implies or guarantees a standard. I’d also like to see more techniques developed to store and maintain the viability of allogeneic tissue, so we don’t have to hope the timing of a donation and a clinical need coincide. (more…)
When helping was critical, the AlloSource team sprang into action.
AlloSource is one of the largest suppliers of allograft skin for burns in the nation. Burn skin is central to our mission and helps us play a part in saving people’s lives each and every day.
We service major medical centers in our core communities as well as in other communities across the nation and AlloSource is first to get the call when a crisis event happens. On January 26 we got the call again.
U.S. Air Force C-130 airplanes landed in Tampa, Florida last week with severely burned survivors of the Haitian earthquake inside. The patients were immediately transferred to Tampa General Hospital, one of our large allograft burn skin customers. The procurement coordinator at Tampa General was looking for all the skin that we could provide them to cope with their immediate and future needs. Tampa has implemented their disaster plan for burns and is now working around the clock on surgeries in the burn center.
Immediately the AlloSource team sprang into action releasing 55 square feet of skin. (more…)
Discover the variety of clinical applications for bone and tissue allografts, including orthopaedic, spine, sports medicine, oral maxillofacial, podiatry, periodontal, urology, oncology and trauma.
Or, learn more about skin allografts used for the treatment of burns, including function, structure, donor recovery and clinical application.
The following byline from AlloSource has appeared in hundreds of media outlets around the country
Amidst the constantly changing world of medicine, innovative research from some of the world’s leading surgeons is finding new ways to use donated human tissue to treat a host of medical conditions.
Registered donors and their families donate this allograft tissue in the same way organs are donated. It is used in many life-saving and enhancing medical procedures already, with numerous new opportunities on the horizon.
(more…)
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