Dr Alicia Miers^1,2,3, Dr Aoife Rice^1,2,3, Ms Kristen Storey^1,2,3, Dr  Yun Phua¹, Professor  Roy Kimble^1,2,3,4

¹Queensland Children’s Hospital, South Brisbane, Australia, ²University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia, ³Pegg Leditschke Children’s Burns Centre, Queensland Children’s Hospital, Brisbane, Australia, ⁴Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia

Abstract:

Novosorb™ Biodegradable Temporising Matrix (BTM) provides a fully synthetic dermal scaffold for tissue repair, and contributes to stable, durable and flexible wound closure (Cheshire et al. 2016).

Retrospective chart review revealed nine children where BTM was used between October 2018 and May 2019 at Queensland Children’s Hospital. A majority of patients were managed through the Pegg Leditschke Children’s Burns Centre.

The injuries and conditions included in this series all resulted in full thickness skin defects prompting operative intervention for surgical debridement, dressings, application of BTM and 7 out of 9 patients required skin grafting. In a total of 9 patients, BTM was used on 27 sites. Conditions requiring wound management where BTM was used included electrical injuries resulting in full thickness burns, scar contracture releases, lower limb ulceration in the context of ataxia telangiectasia, excision of an epidermal naevus on the posterior neck, and skin necrosis arterial thrombus as well as necrosis complicating sclerotherapy of a venous malformation of the scalp.

At the time of submission, BTM had incorporated well into the sites of all patients within three to five weeks. In small areas, BTM did not require grafting. Two patients had an unexpected return to theatre for bleeding and there was one graft failure in the context of pseudomonas infection requiring re-grafting.

Reports of BTM use in the Australian context are limited and this case series aims to reflect on the experience in our hospital and highlight the versatility and durability of BTM in the management of complex wounds.

Reference List

Cheshire, PA, Herson, MR, Cleland, H & Akbarzadeh, S 2016, Artificial dermal templates: A comparative study of NovoSorb™ Biodegradable Temporising Matrix (BTM) and Integra ® Dermal Regeneration Template (DRT), 03054179

Biography:

Dr Alicia Miers is a Registrar with the Paediatric Surgery, Urology, Burns and Trauma Unit at Queensland Children’s Hospital.