Epidermal grafting in wound healing
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A Multicentre Randomised Controlled Trial to Compare Epidermal Grafting with Split Skin Grafting for Wound Healing
IRAS ID
174318
Contact name
Toby Richards
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University College London
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
15/0079, R&D number
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Split thickness skin grafting is the normal standard of care for wound closure. However, this is an invasive procedure and associated with pain also there can be additional donor site morbidity. Epidermal grafting is an emerging clinical alternative that is gaining clinical practise. Epidermal grafting (EG) is an alternative method of autologous skin grafting that ‘harvests’ a finer layer of skin than traditional Split Skin grafting (SSG). This potentially results in less pain and reduced donor site morbidity but only delivers several cell layers to the wound so may be less effective at healing a wound. It is not known if EG is an effective alternative to SSG.
Further the mechanism to achieve wound healing may be different. EG promotes wound healing by expressing growth factors that accelerates wound healing and encourages keratinocyte migration. Whereas SSG is a transplant of several skin layers that integrated to the existing wound bed as a formal skin covering.
We wish to compare these two clinical practises; epidermal grafting and split thickness skin grafting in wound healing. Further to undertake a translational study to investigate the mechanism by which each technique achieves wound healing.REC name
London - Fulham Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/LO/0556
Date of REC Opinion
14 May 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion