The possibility of the clinical use of keratinocytes and epidermal stem cells cultures in the treatment of chronic leg ulcers – preliminary report

Introduction. Treatment of chronic leg ulcers is still a serious problem in modern medicine. Therapeutic failures are observed both in patients treated conservatively and in those in whom surgical treatment was undertaken. Therefore there is a need of new methods of therapy.

Objective. To present clinical use of cultured keratinocytes and epidermal stem cells in two patients with chronic leg ulcers. The authors also attempted to determine the clinical criteria for inclusion and exclusion of patients for this type of therapy.

Material and methods. A cell suspension from full-thickness skin was obtained from both patients and placed in the bottom of the ulcers. The wounds were protected with sterile dressings soaked in saline.

Results. In both patients partial re-epithelialisation of the ulcer and significant clinical improvement around the wound were observed.

Conclusions. In spite of clinical improvement observed in both cases, the authors draw attention to the need of improvement of cell culture technique and development of clinical criteria for this therapeutic procedure.