As the Obama administration continues to fight wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon is working on medical technology that can help soldiers recover and rehabilitate faster than ever before. Shrapnel wounds and burns caused by explosions often require grafting the damaged areas with regrown skin cells. To make this process easier and faster, Avita Medical out of Nedlands, Australia has created a kit called ReCell for harvesting autologous skin cells by clinicians even in the field. The Pentagon believes in effectiveness of this technology so much that a grant of $1.45 million has been provided to Avita by the United States Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM) to speed up FDA approval.
ReCell is an innovative single-use medical device for harvesting autologous skin cells. Developed as an ‘off the shelf’ kit, ReCell enables a thin split thickness biopsy, taken at the time of procedure, to be processed into an immediate cell population for delivery onto the wound surface. Once processed, the cell suspension is available for immediate use and can cover a wound up to 80 times the area of the donor biopsy.
ReCell enables the delivery of keratinocytes, melanocytes, fibroblasts and Langerhans cells harvested from the epidermal-dermal junction for application onto a wound surface in order to promote effective wound healing. Melanocyte repopulation may result in the reintroduction of pigmentation into hypopigmented areas.
ReCell has been generally used to treat smaller wounds such as small burns and scalds, donor sites, glabrous injuries, mild to moderate scars, hypopigmentation (hypopigmented scars, iatrogenic hypopigmentation and Vitiligo) and prophylactically in cosmetic rejuvenation procedures.
As the ReCell device enables cell processing at the site of treatment without the use of specialised laboratory staff, the process is both cost and time efficient.
Advantages include:Improved wound healing time and scar quality. Repopulation of melanocytes to reduce hypopigmentation. On-site processing for immediate application. Increased viability through immediate harvest and application. Ability to be processed by clinician not specialised laboratory staff.
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