Toxic epidermal necrolysis: an approach to management using cryopreserved allograft skin

Toxic epidermal necrolysis is an acute exfoliation of skin simulating a scald injury. Drug-induced toxic epidermal necrolysis has a mortality of greater than 50%. We report an 8-year-old girl with drug-induced toxic epidermal necrolysis who was treated with cryopreserved cadaver skin, with good outcome. The allograft was clinically and histologically viable. Graft keratinocytes demonstrated epiboly as reepithelialization by the host occurred along the host/graft interface. Host epidermis regenerated rapidly, presumably from adnexae, and displaced the viable allograft along the plane of the host/graft interface. The new epidermis appeared normal in all respects.