Grafting of burns with cultured epithelium prepared from autologous epidermal cells.

The cells from a small piece of epidermis can be grown into a large number of cultured epithelia. Such epithelia, generated from autologous skin, were grafted onto full-thickness burn wounds in two patients. The cultured epithelia acquired an epidermal structure resembling that achieved with conventional split-thickness skin grafts, and survived for the period of observation (up to 8 months). Since the method of cultivation can generate large amounts of epithelium, the procedure is applicable to the grafting of large areas, as in severe burns.