Maintaining a glycerolized skin bank--a practical approach

The Helsinki Burn Unit admits around 120-140 patients a year and, of these, 20-30 need intensive care. Before 1995, fresh, non-tested cadaver skin was used to cover widely meshed autografts in large burns. In 1995, we founded a skin bank to avoid the problems encountered in the use of fresh cadaver skin: contamination by viruses or bacteria, shortage of available skin, the occasionally poor quality of the cadaver skin, and the inconvenience of harvesting skin in the mortuary. Crucial to the work of the Skin Bank has been cooperation with the Transplantation Unit of our hospital. This reduces paperwork and guarantees the quality of the donors. It also enables us to harvest skin only from tested multiorgan donors in an operating theater setting. Also important is a well organized team to ensure the procurement of a sufficient amount of good-quality allografts. This requirement raises the otherwise low costs of a glycerolized skin bank.