Zürcher Nachrichten - Dressing 'revolution' seeks artificial skin for burn victims

EUR -
AED 3.779349
AFN 73.055671
ALL 98.684556
AMD 409.295676
ANG 1.856598
AOA 938.401812
ARS 1070.376131
AUD 1.663863
AWG 1.852109
AZN 1.743854
BAM 1.964793
BBD 2.07992
BDT 125.16287
BGN 1.956098
BHD 0.387899
BIF 3009.67727
BMD 1.028949
BND 1.411058
BOB 7.11879
BRL 6.234306
BSD 1.030115
BTN 89.151646
BWP 14.499788
BYN 3.37123
BYR 20167.410083
BZD 2.069332
CAD 1.478019
CDF 2917.071292
CHF 0.940368
CLF 0.037556
CLP 1036.131398
CNY 7.543336
CNH 7.560366
COP 4418.813313
CRC 519.176266
CUC 1.028949
CUP 27.267162
CVE 111.433086
CZK 25.261119
DJF 182.864964
DKK 7.461633
DOP 63.023042
DZD 139.857116
EGP 51.908543
ERN 15.434242
ETB 131.71319
FJD 2.399712
FKP 0.847429
GBP 0.843955
GEL 2.91205
GGP 0.847429
GHS 15.27965
GIP 0.847429
GMD 74.084227
GNF 8905.557973
GTQ 7.945521
GYD 215.52273
HKD 8.012404
HNL 26.20494
HRK 7.593182
HTG 134.485539
HUF 412.125013
IDR 16763.542262
ILS 3.728964
IMP 0.847429
INR 89.070905
IQD 1349.476544
IRR 43318.773693
ISK 144.906631
JEP 0.847429
JMD 161.328399
JOD 0.729838
JPY 162.644499
KES 133.240721
KGS 89.981708
KHR 4156.956524
KMF 495.902044
KPW 926.054659
KRW 1503.470415
KWD 0.317555
KYD 0.858454
KZT 546.240757
LAK 22441.38809
LBP 92193.874953
LKR 303.428791
LRD 194.728489
LSL 19.611607
LTL 3.03822
LVL 0.622401
LYD 5.098427
MAD 10.369234
MDL 19.367208
MGA 4825.225705
MKD 61.556507
MMK 3341.98782
MNT 3496.370491
MOP 8.261253
MRU 41.003576
MUR 48.401542
MVR 15.855893
MWK 1784.198483
MXN 21.099062
MYR 4.635434
MZN 65.760069
NAD 19.61203
NGN 1596.713099
NIO 37.91353
NOK 11.72933
NPR 142.643035
NZD 1.840024
OMR 0.396149
PAB 1.030145
PEN 3.892004
PGK 4.194197
PHP 60.426606
PKR 286.742505
PLN 4.265684
PYG 8117.152144
QAR 3.746148
RON 4.97487
RSD 117.105802
RUB 105.975073
RWF 1426.123999
SAR 3.8621
SBD 8.687602
SCR 14.770443
SDG 618.398283
SEK 11.515045
SGD 1.407629
SHP 0.847429
SLE 23.305938
SLL 21576.556333
SOS 588.043737
SRD 36.121265
STD 21297.177085
SVC 9.013254
SYP 13378.401306
SZL 19.525367
THB 35.703516
TJS 11.259764
TMT 3.611613
TND 3.320799
TOP 2.4099
TRY 36.503331
TTD 6.994216
TWD 33.951156
TZS 2598.097793
UAH 43.543444
UGX 3807.426562
USD 1.028949
UYU 45.297326
UZS 13362.158498
VES 55.123409
VND 26125.027653
VUV 122.15895
WST 2.881909
XAF 658.992417
XAG 0.034568
XAU 0.000386
XCD 2.780787
XDR 0.794034
XOF 658.973115
XPF 119.331742
YER 256.208238
ZAR 19.477489
ZMK 9261.788241
ZMW 28.561559
ZWL 331.321317
  • RBGPF

    -2.5500

    59.45

    -4.29%

  • CMSC

    0.0100

    22.81

    +0.04%

  • RYCEF

    0.0700

    6.95

    +1.01%

  • SCS

    0.1100

    11.24

    +0.98%

  • RIO

    0.8700

    60.39

    +1.44%

  • VOD

    0.0430

    8.243

    +0.52%

  • BTI

    0.3550

    35.705

    +0.99%

  • NGG

    -0.1600

    56.27

    -0.28%

  • GSK

    -0.5750

    32.125

    -1.79%

  • CMSD

    0.0800

    23.19

    +0.34%

  • RELX

    0.1600

    46.06

    +0.35%

  • BCC

    2.8100

    123.32

    +2.28%

  • BP

    -0.0750

    31.145

    -0.24%

  • BCE

    -0.7250

    22.485

    -3.22%

  • JRI

    0.1450

    12.185

    +1.19%

  • AZN

    -0.4120

    65.318

    -0.63%

Dressing 'revolution' seeks artificial skin for burn victims
Dressing 'revolution' seeks artificial skin for burn victims / Photo: ARNAUD FINISTRE - AFP

Dressing 'revolution' seeks artificial skin for burn victims

Far from the humble sticking plaster, medical firms and researchers are seeking to create the "ultimate dressing" -- artificial skin they hope will revolutionise the treatment of severe burns.

Text size:

For the last 18 months, researchers from the French firm Urgo have been working towards achieving this Holy Grail of wound treatment, which would save serious burn victims from the painful and repeated skin grafts they currently endure.

The 100-million-euro ($106,000-million) "Genesis" project hopes to have a product ready by 2030.

Guirec Le Lous, the president of Urgo's medical arm, told AFP that it is a "crazy" project.

"Are we capable of designing artificial skin in a laboratory? No one in the world has succeeded," he said.

Inside Urgo's laboratory in Chenove, near the eastern French city of Dijon, living cells are being chilled before they can be cultivated.

"You have to be able to recreate all the functions of skin," including protecting against external threats and regulating the temperature, Le Lous said.

It must also be relatively easy to make, because artificial skin must be "available for all and at the right price," he said, without revealing the exact technology or type of cells Urgo is using.

Urgo, a family-owned business since 1880, has long made dressings for chronic wounds such as diabetic foot ulcers and venous leg ulcers.

"Since the 2000s, we have worked on materials that will correct healing problems: dressings have become intelligent, interactive with wounds, allowing them to perform better," Urgo's research director Laurent Apert said.

He called the change "a revolution".

- Silver bullet -

Urgo is far from alone in pushing the boundaries of what dressings can do.

Researchers at the University of South Australia have developed a new kind of dressing that knows when to release nanoparticles of silver, which can break down antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

"Our treatment is unique in that it capitalises on the anti-bacterial properties of silver, but avoids over-exposure, by only activating when infection in present," lead researcher Zlatko Kopecki said in a statement.

This makes the dressing "a much safer and effective treatment for children," he added.

Children suffer almost half of burn injuries worldwide, most of them aged between one to five years old, according to research using the World Health Organization's Global Burn Registry.

- 'Night and day' -

Another new technique does away with the idea of dressing altogether.

For a product from French startup VistaCare Medical, patients put their affected leg into a large device which never touches their wound.

Instead the chamber controls the humidity, temperature and other aspects important to healing.

"There is no more dressing. The idea is to put the wound in an enclosure, in a sterile air, VistaCare Medical president Francois Dufay said.

"With this system, we provide the wound with what it needs, at the right time."

VistaCare Medical's device is currently used in around 20 French hospitals, but next year the firm plans to apply for approval in the United States for a product to be used in the home.

The new developments have shaken up the world of wound healing, long a neglected area of medical research.

Isabelle Fromantin, who heads the wounds and healing research unit at the Curie Institute in Paris, said that "compared to 20 years ago, it's night and day in terms of wound care".

Along with her team, Fromantin has developed dressings that reduce the odours from necrotic wounds seen in some cancers.

However she said that not everything can be achieved by new technologies -- healing is a process that varies from person to person, depending on their age and health.

"Believing that a dressing will heal you all by itself is utopian," she said.

F.E.Ackermann--NZN