Clinical Applications of Allograft Skin in Burn Care.

Abstract

Allograft skin has been widely used for wound management in burn centers. Functional as biologic dressing, it can not only provide ideal temporary wound coverage in extensive burns when autograft is not immediately available but also prepare the wound bed for definitive autografting. In this article, the up-to-date clinical application of allograft in burn care was reviewed, including coverage of extensive burn wounds, combined use with meshed autograft, template for delayed application of cultured epidermal autografts, and the use of human acellular dermal matrix. Although it has potential disadvantages of rejection and disease transmission, allograft skin remains a workhorse in treatment of severe burn wounds.