U. of U. doctors testing stem cell spray to heal burns

SALT LAKE CITY — Surgeons and doctors at the University of Utah are testing out a topical spray that utilizes a person's own stem cells to treat their wounds.

The treatment consists of removing red cells and combining a concentration of platelets and progenitor cells with calcium and thrombin. The final mixture looks like Jell-O, and the application process takes about 15 minutes.

The process was tested out on patient Kaye Adkins, who had an open wound on her foot that weeks of treatment — including a skin graft — had failed to heal. Adkins said she initially thought they were going to inject something into her foot and was excited to hear it was, instead, a spray that would be applied during a second graft.

This time, the graft was successful, and the wound healed.

"I had never heard of anything like that," she said. "It was just amazing."

Dr. Amalia Cochran of the University of Utah Health Care Burn Center said, in Adkins' case, as in others, bacteria must be removed before the spray can be used.

Stem cells are already used to help patients recover from heart surgery, but their use on burns is fairly new. While Adkins' burn is healing, so is her heart. Stem cells were used during her bypass surgery five weeks ago to hasten healing for that procedure as well.

Cochran said that the technology could have a great effect on the treatment of burns of all sizes.

"It's my hope that, in my career lifetime, that stem cells will completely revolutionize how we are able to take care of patients — not just with small burns that are challenging to heal — but with massive burn injuries as well," Cochran said.

The spray, one of many developments in the world of regenerative medicine, could have many long-term benefits for patients, according to Dr. Amit Patel, a University of Utah cardiovascular surgeon.

"We can accelerate healing or improve healing," Patel said. "Then, it's the quality of healing. And then we hopefully advance to decreasing the scarring process completely."

According to Patel, researchers are starting with a biological Band-Aid but hope to eventually end up with synthetic skin that's derived from a person's own cells.

"Regrowing your own skin in a bioreactor is very realistic, and that's not five years away even," Patel said."

The military is already keeping a close eye on the Utah project, as the technology would be helpful for treating burns on soldiers.

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