Scientists have developed a spray-on skin that can be use to treat wounds, it was announced today.
The spray, made partly from skin cells, has successfully been used to treat leg ulcers, researchers reported.
The study, involved some 228 patients showed that the chances of healing – closing – an ulcer increased by half compared with the standard treatment involving bandages.
The spray is made from skin cells mixed with blood clotting proteins.
Researcher Professor William Marston, of the University of North Carolina, USA, said: "In the past, some chronic venous leg ulcers were treated with skin grafts, which occasionally could break down and also required the patient to heal a partial thickness wound at the skin graft harvest site.
"During this study, unique living cells were sprayed on the patient’s wound, which interacted with the patient’s cells for improved wound healing."
A German professor, Professor Matthias Augustin, of the University Medical Centre, Hamburg, welcomed the findings.
He writes in the journal: "Even though compression is, and will remain, the basis of venous leg ulcer treatment, hard-to-heal ulcers do need additional therapy. In these wounds, prolonged futile, conservative treatment will increase costs without additional benefit.
"Therefore, the temporary higher costs for additional cell therapy can be justified as an investment in improved healing."
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