gms | German Medical Science

Introduction: Biotechnology provides access to new modern natural materials for medicine. Epicite-hydro is one of these innovative biomaterials, made of pure cellulose offering unique material properties due to its three dimensional nano–sized fiber network in the process of skin regeneration.

Objectives: To demonstrate the safety and clinical outcomes of using Epicite-hydro in burns, as a skin substitute.

Material and methods: Records of all patients attended for burns (within ≤72hrs) treated with Epicite-hydro, at least 6 months prior to the present study, analyzing sex, cause, depth, and percentage affected, as well as pain scale, time of healing process and complications. Vancouver scale applied at 1 and 6 months, recording data.

Results: From October 2017 to March 2019, 87 files of patients whit burns treated with Epicite-hydro were collected. 63% male (54), 37% female (32), mean age 36 years (range 2 to 81 years), mean percentage 15% (range 1% to 50%), 73% 2nd degree burn (63 cases), 27% for 3rd degree burn (23 cases). Cause of burns 44% fire, 40% scald, 5% contact whit hot material and 1% chemical. The mean pain scale 2 (range 1-4), mean epithelization 7 days (range 5-14 days), 3rd degree burns generated granulation tissue (mean day 17). No complications were detected including infections or allergies. Vancouver scale applied at 1 and 6 months averaging 2.9 for 2nd degree burn.

Conclusions: Epicite-hydro can be safety used on skin surfaces where the epithelium is missing. The nanostructure giving it an extremely high biocompatibility and full functionality as a cell free, biosynthetic epithelium will reduce pain and prevent infections. The membrane allowing an optimized fluid homeostasis, giving a perfect environment during the whole healing skin process, helps reduce time of epithelization whit high good quality scaring, making a great novel treatment for burns.