Student Presenter(s): Sourish Rathi and Sonika Rathi
Faculty Mentor: Gurtej Singh
School/College: Osteopathic Medicine, Old Westbury

Context: Autologous skin grafts (autografts) are the gold-standard for the reconstruction of wounds but are limited by donor availability. Allogeneic/xenogeneic grafts provide temporary coverage but are eventually rejected. Another type of skin grafts that can be utilized are the tissue-engineered skin constructs: acellular tissue-engineered skin constructs (Acellular TCs) and cellular tissue-engineered skin constructs (Cellular TCs). Objective: This study compares graft incorporation and survival outcomes for autografts, autografts co-grafted with Acellular TCs and Cellular TCs in humans. Methods: All studies assessing the designated clinical outcomes of any of the graft were compared. The three main comparisons were: Co-grafts of Acellular TCs with autografts vs autografts alone, and Cellular TCs versus other grafts/constructs. Results: Graft rejection rates for autografts alone were 3.6%. No significant differences were found in graft failure rates and mean difference in percent re-epithelialization for autografts compared to co-grafts of Acellular TCs with autograft’s (p=0.07 and p=0.92 respectively). There is no significant difference in Vancouver scar scale scores for co-grafts of Acellular TCs and autograft compared to autograft alone (p=0.09). No difference in graft failure rate was found for epidermal Cellular TCs compared to autograft (p=0.55). Conclusion: Thise shows promising results in wound healing outcomes for newer cellular tissue-engineered skin constructs.