Euro Skin Bank: large scale skin-banking in Europe based on glycerol-preservation of donor skin.

Although skin banking has been well developed through the years as a means of providing sufficient skin which is instantly accessible to the burn patient, the methods of preservation and the scale on which various institutions bank skin vary considerably. In 1984, the Dutch National Skin Bank started using glycerol as a preservant for skin allografts. Since then there has been a marked increase in both the volume of glycerol skin grafts applied and the area over which these have been distributed. The procedure and organizational aspects of the Euro Skin Bank, as our own institution is now called, and its current method of skin preservation are described.