Wound healing in children as assessed by the CELLSTIC method.

Assessment of the quality and speed of wound healing in man has been rather difficult until the present time. By the use of CEELSTIC, a tissue-sensitive test drain composed of a standardized piece of viscose cellulose sponge inside a thin Silastic tube, cells existing between wound edges can be analyzed by histologic, cytologic, and enzyme histochemical means. The 166 pediatric surgical patients studied showed that wound healing is an age-dependent process reflected by the increased time needed for cellular transformation and maximal activation of hexokinase and isocitrate dehydrogenase with increasing age.