DAVE
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Decellularised Dermis Allograft for the Treatment of Chronic Venous Leg Ulceration
IRAS ID
265680
Contact name
Alun Davies
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Imperial College London
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 6 months, 23 days
Research summary
Chronic venous ulceration are open wounds on the lower limbs which have been present for at least six months and are caused by a poorly functioning venous system. The affect about 1% of the general population and about 4% of those over 65. The wounds cause pain, reduced movement, and can smell - greatly affecting the quality of life of leg ulcer patients. The standard care for these patients is compression bandaging, which requires changing several times a week by community or district nurses; this drives the high cost of leg ulcer care, which can amount to £2.5 billion per annum.
Skin grafting can be used alongside compression bandaging and can help the ulcers heal faster than compression alone. Grafts can be taken from the patient’s own skin, from a donor or from tissue engineered skin. An autograft (using own skin) can cause scarring and the need for a formal surgical procedure in theatre so are not suitable for all ulcer patients. Allografts (donor skin) and xenografts (animal skin) have been used successfully, but present similar drawbacks to autografts, plus the potential for the body to reject the graft and disease transmission. Tissue engineered skin has several advantages as it has been processed to remove the cells, and therefore is won't be rejected via the immune response. Human decellularised dermis (DCD) is generated from donated skin from deceased people and processed to remove the cells. It can be glued or sewn onto the skin under local anesthetic, in an out patient setting. DCD has mainly been studied in patients with diabetic foot ulceration and has shown improved healing rates and quality of life.
This study will investigate the use of DCD in addition to compression therapy versus compression therapy alone in patients with chronic venous leg ulceration.REC name
London - Bloomsbury Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/LO/1271
Date of REC Opinion
14 Aug 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion