Cyclosporine-induced long-term allograft survival and its potential in posttrauma tissue replacement

This report is a partial review of our work to date concerning the use of cyclosporine and integumentary/musculoskeletal allografts for posttrauma tissue replacement. Our ultimate goals for such allografts are their lifesaving capabilities in addition to their utilization in functional and aesthetic surgical reconstructions. The potential for such a treatment regimen to produce anatomical replacement of lost parts is a primary motivating reason to pursue such studies. Permanent host-accepted integumentary/musculoskeletal allografts would appear to offer much greater promise in comparison with recent synthetic and cultured tissue replacements. Summarized topics covered in this review include short- and long-term use of cyclosporine in a 30% body surface area rat burn model; bacterial studies in this model; primary wound excision and use of cyclosporine in a massive 80% body surface area rat burn model; pathological skin alterations in cyclosporine-treated rats; the synergistic immunosuppressive effects of prior blood transfusions and cyclosporine; long-term residual cyclosporine levels assayed in various long-term surviving allograft-recipients; and the use of cyclosporine and cadaver skin allografts to treat massive full-thickness burns in patients.