Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Artificial dermis has a bilayer structure of collagen sponge and silicone layer, which has been developed and successfully applied in clinics. It is commonly used for the repair of defects of skin and soft tissue.
OBJECTIVE: To study and appraise the application of artificial dermis in repairing severe defect of skin and soft tissue of foot.
METHODS: A total of 14 patients were admitted at the Department of Burn and Plastic Surgery, Beijing Jishuitan Hospital from June 2009 to December 2010, and all cases had skin and soft tissue defects with tendon or bone exposure due to acute trauma. All the patients were performed debridement and artificial dermis transplantation followed by autologous split-thickness skin graft. The survival of artificial dermis and split-thickness skin was observed.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: All cases had good coverage of wounds and recheck outcome showed skin graft healing was excellent and donor sites had no obvious skin scar. The results demonstrated that artificial dermis graft in combination with autologous split-thickness skin graft is effective to repair severe defects of skin and soft tissue of foot with a small injury of donor site.