ABSTRACT

The field of tissue engineering has grown in response to the many medical needs for tissue replacement. For the skin, two distinctly different types of wounds have stimulated the development of various tissueengineered skin substitutes. On one end of the spectrum are burn wounds, which represent an acute injury to the skin. Over 1 million burn injuries occur annually, resulting in over 50,000 acute hospital admissions and more than 5,000 deaths [1]. Partial-thickness wounds have the capacity to heal without the need for tissue replacement from stem cells present in skin appendages. However, full-thickness burn wounds require grafting of skin to replace the destroyed tissue. The grafting of split-thickness autologous skin has been the prevailing standard for permanent closure of excised full-thickness burn wounds. This can be accomplished in patients with relatively small wounds, but in patients with massive burns involving a large total body surface area (TBSA), permanent wound closure is problematic because of the lack of donor sites for skin autografting. Delayed wound coverage increases the likelihood of infection and sepsis, major causes of burn mortality [2].