Single-Stage Integra Reconstruction in Burns (Integra)

This is a prospective, descriptive, pilot case series involving patients with significant burns who are candidates for reconstruction with Integra®. Subjects would have a small area of the wound would, at the time of excision, have the smallest sheet of thin Integra® (125 cm2) placed and be immediately autografted with a 3:1 meshed split-thickness skin graft. Of note, 125 cm2 represents approximately 0.7% of an average sized patient's total body surface area, so for even the smallest burns in our proposed trial, this area would represent a small portion of the patient's area of injury. The remaining injury areas would be covered with standard-thickness Integra® only.

Integra®, a synthetic dermal substitute, has been utilized in burn care for decades. Typically, 10-14 days after Integra® placement, a patient returns to the operating room, the top silastic layer of the Integra® is removed, and an autograft - a split-thickness skin graft harvested from the patient - is applied directly on top of the incorporated Integra®. The result is regarded to be a cosmetically and functionally superior result to that which would have been obtained had the wound bed itself been autografted at the time of excision, as opposed to being covered by Integra® and autografted during a second operation. Integra® use in single-stage procedures to cover defects without grafting has shown benefit when defects are fairly small, e.g. fingertip injuries, and small head and neck skin cancer resections. While single-stage reconstruction with Integra® has been demonstrated with standard thickness Integra®, this decreased thickness would increase the likelihood of graft survival due to the decreased distance of nutrient diffusion.

Composed of a porous collagen-chondroitin 6-sulfate fibrillary mat covered with a thin sheet of silastic, it serves to cover wound beds of freshly excised burns and allow for the infiltration of fibroblasts, capillaries, and macrophages, essentially creating a "neodermis" while also acting as a barrier against infection and a blockade against heat and moisture loss

125 cm2 represents approximately 0.7% of an average sized patient's total body surface area. The remaining injury areas would be covered with standard-thickness Integra® only. The donor graft, a 4 cm x 10 cm sheet of skin, would be meshed in a 3:1 ratio to be expanded to cover the 125 cm2 sheet of thin Integra®. The patient's post-operative care would be largely unchanged, although the patient would have a donor site of 40 cm2 that would be dressed and managed in the usual fashion.

Inclusion Criteria: English-speaking adult burn patients greater than 18 years old, admitted with burn injuries eligible for Integra® reconstruction at the discretion of the burn attending physicians. Exclusion Criteria: patients with isolated hand or face burns - these burns are treated with sheet grafts (unmeshed); the 3:1 mesh grafts would not be used on these cosmetically sensitive areas. If they have hand and/or face burns in addition to other areas, they will not be excluded. However, the study itself will not be performed on the hands or face. Additionally, patients unable to present to our clinic for routine follow-up due to geographic limitations or otherwise will be ineligible.

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Ryan CM, Schoenfeld DA, Malloy M, Schulz JT 3rd, Sheridan RL, Tompkins RG. Use of Integra artificial skin is associated with decreased length of stay for severely injured adult burn survivors. J Burn Care Rehabil. 2002 Sep-Oct;23(5):311-7. doi: 10.1097/00004630-200209000-00002.

Jacoby SM, Bachoura A, Chen NC, Shin EK, Katolik LI. One-stage Integra coverage for fingertip injuries. Hand (N Y). 2013 Sep;8(3):291-5. doi: 10.1007/s11552-013-9513-x.

Burd A, Wong PS. One-stage Integra reconstruction in head and neck defects. J Plast Reconstr Aesthet Surg. 2010 Mar;63(3):404-9. doi: 10.1016/j.bjps.2008.11.105. Epub 2009 Feb 28.

De Angelis B, Gentile P, Tati E, Bottini DJ, Bocchini I, Orlandi F, Pepe G, Di Segni C, Cervelli G, Cervelli V. One-Stage Reconstruction of Scalp after Full-Thickness Oncologic Defects Using a Dermal Regeneration Template (Integra). Biomed Res Int. 2015;2015:698385. doi: 10.1155/2015/698385. Epub 2015 Nov 16.

Demiri E, Papaconstantinou A, Dionyssiou D, Dionyssopoulos A, Kaidoglou K, Efstratiou I. Reconstruction of skin avulsion injuries of the upper extremity with integra((R)) dermal regeneration template and skin grafts in a single-stage procedure. Arch Orthop Trauma Surg. 2013 Nov;133(11):1521-6. doi: 10.1007/s00402-013-1834-2. Epub 2013 Aug 21.

Kosutic D, Beasung E, Dempsey M, Ryan L, Fauzi Z, O'Sullyvan B, Orr D. Single-layer Integra for one-stage reconstruction of scalp defects with exposed bone following full-thickness burn injury: a novel technique. Burns. 2012 Feb;38(1):143-5. doi: 10.1016/j.burns.2011.08.019. Epub 2011 Nov 1. No abstract available.