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 Letter from the CEO One of the things I am most proud of is AlloSource's commitment to providing donor skin for the care of acute burn victims nationwide and beyond. If you visit any burn unit you will find an incredibly strong and dedicated team of surgeons and nurses that help patients who are in the fight of their lives. We provide life-saving allograft skin because our surgeon partners consider it the gold standard in treatment of burns, and superior to synthetic offerings because of its regenerative qualities and greater ability to prevent infection. Most tissue banks have abandoned the burn skin business because it is too difficult and costly. However, AlloSource remains committed to providing this life-saving tissue because it fits with our mission and is the right thing to do.
In this edition of the Allograph you will read the story of 13-year-old Devin Katacinski, whose life was greatly enhanced thanks to his treatment with allograft skin following a second degree burn. Thanks to the generosity of a tissue donor, today Devin is a normal boy, able to run, play and swim like every child should. Also included in this edition is a medical perspective on the use of allograft tissue in the treatment of burns, from Dr. Richard Kagan, the Chief of Staff at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Cincinnati. These two perspectives wonderfully illustrate how tissue donation saves and improves the lives of burn victims. |
RECIPIENT STORY: Young burn victim finds healing thanks to tissue donor Devin was a typical 12-year-old: an active boy who loved to play soccer and spend time with his friends. Unfortunately, an accident put Devin's life on pause.
On a Sunday morning at church, Devin was pouring a cup of coffee when the cup slipped and he spilled the coffee on his arm. "When it spilled on my arm, my long-sleeve shirt started clinging to my skin, and my skin was bubbling on my hand," said Devin. The hot coffee immediately took the skin off from the bottom of his thumb, to the middle of his forearm.
Devin was rushed to the emergency room where he was diagnosed with second degree burns. "They wrapped up my arm, put chemical water on it to cool it and dumped it in a tub, which made it very numb. They also gave me pain killers that put me asleep for a few hours," explained Devin.
Following treatment at the emergency room, Devin was referred to the Joseph M Still Burn Center at WellStar Cobb Hospital in Austell, Georgia where he remembers noticing that everyone's burns were so much more severe than his own. Within hours, he was taken into surgery where the doctors removed the burned skin and placed allograft skin on top of it. Allograft skin is a gift of life from a deceased human donor. The days following consisted of a lot of sleep and saltine crackers, but it was the donor skin that really helped in the healing process. The proteins in the donor skin were ideal to help to heal the burn and encourage Devin's body to regenerate new skin. READ MORE |
DOCTOR'S PERSPECTIVE: Richard Kagan, MD A chat with Dr. Richard Kagan about his use of allograft tissue as a burn surgeon, and what tissue donation means to him Dr. Kagan is the Chief of Staff at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Cincinnati and Professor of Surgery at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
Q: Describe why allograft skin is crucial to save and heal burn victims. A: It provides a temporary wound cover until the wound is ready to accept the patient's own skin or until the patient's limited donor sites are available for autografting.
Q: Why do you use allograft skin for the treatment of burns, versus synthetic materials? A: I use a combination of both, but 90% of the time fresh allograft is my preference because it will vascularize and adhere to the wound bed better. Allograft tissue creates a temporary wound cover that permits the patient's condition to improve without the need to create an additional wound from the harvesting of autologous skin. My use is predominantly in deep and/or extensive burns in which case the allograft tissue is potentially lifesaving, but I also use it in the treatment of small burns, abrasion injuries and infected wounds because of its reliable effectiveness. READ MORE |
MEDIA VIDEO: Stem cells creating new opportunities in tissue transplantation  As medicine continues to advance, so too do possibilities for tissue donation and transplantation. One of the latest medical treatments available uses stem cells from tissue donors.
Check out this exciting story out of Baltimore with Dr. Mark Myerson, Director of Mercy Medical Center's Institute for Foot and Ankle Reconstruction. Dr. Myerson used AlloStem® Stem Cell Bone Growth Substitute to re-grow bone in the ankle of a woman from New Jersey who was originally told her leg would have to be amputated following a devastating car accident.
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