Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Doctors to test 'spray-on skin' method

|
|
 
  
Published: Sept. 6, 2005 at 10:36 AM
Advertisement

SUSSEX, England, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- Doctors at Britain's Queen Victoria Hospital in West Sussex have received ethical approval to test a "spray on skin" technique to treat burn victims.

The doctors are encouraged by the new technique after it saved the life of a man with burns over 90 percent of his body, the Times of London reported.

The treatment, which eliminates the need for painful, disfiguring skin grafts, involves taking a patient's skin, which is made into a mesh so that it can cover a larger area. This is placed over the wound and acts as a lattice on which cultured skin cells are sprayed using an aerosol, the report said.

The technique, developed in Australia, may also help treat other injuries involving significant skin loss. It is thought to speed the healing process and reduce scarring.

Phil Gilbert, a consultant plastic surgeon at Queen Victoria Hospital, said: "This technique can allow us to treat large areas of burns -- covering more than 30 percent of the body -- which will be able to heal in a shorter time with fewer procedures."

Topics: Queen Victoria
© 2005 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Protesters, police clash at NATO summit Notable deaths of 2012 2012 Billboard Music Awards
The 137th Preakness Stakes Annual Solar eclipse occurs in U.S. Chen Guangcheng arrives in the U.S.
Additional Business News Stories
1 of 30
Vietnamese POW Capt. Myron L. Donald looks smilingly at this wife after returning into her arms
View Caption
Capt. Myron L. Donald looks smilingly at this wife on March 17, 1973 at March Air Force base in California, after he placed a lei around her neck as he deplaned following flight from Clark Air Force base. The former POW from Tucson, Arizona, was held by the North Vietnamese for over five years. (UPI Photo/Files)
fark
"Potomac River tuber clung to rock overnight until rescued by anglers." Man, that potato wanted...
Uncertain about naming a warship after a gay rights anti-war activist? You could try asking his...
The 900 dolphins who died off the coast of Peru all perished from natural causes, according to a...
"Child Hugging Priest" told to knock it off, plans to fist kids instead
"Jimmy, I think the school bus is here to pick you up"
Best. Vicar. Ever: four-minute sermons, bring-a-bottle confirmation classes, and if he was too drunk...