Ilkka T. Harvima, Suoma Virnes, Leena Kauppinen, Maria Huttunen, Petri Kivinen, Leo Niskanen, Maija Horsmanheimo
DOI: 10.1080/000155599750011011

Diabetic ulcers on the lower extremities present a difficult treatment problem, and some ulcers respond poorly to conventional topical and cast treatment. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of cultured allogeneic keratinocyte epithelium and fibroblast-gelatin sponge on the healing of chronic, refractory diabetic leg and foot ulcers. Non-diabetic chronic leg ulcers were treated for comparison. This open study comprised 22 patients with type I or type II diabetes and 16 patients with leg or ankle ulcers of different aetio-logies. A total of 26 diabetic and 25 non-diabetic ulcers were treated mainly with keratinocyte epithelium and/or fibroblast-gelatin sponge once weekly until complete healing or until no further healing could be observed despite several repeated treatments. The duration of diabetic ulcers was 10.3±15.8 (mean±SD) months and the size 3.1±6.6 cm2. The diabetic ulcers were located in the heel (7), toe (7), sole (5), leg (6) and Achilles (1). The mean duration of non-diabetic ulcers was 6.8±6.0 months and the size 10.5±11.8 cm2. A total of 12±11 skin cell transplantations were performed for the diabetic ulcers. All but 1 diabetic ulcer healed during the study. The time for 50% reduction in ulcer area was 32±32 days, but 99±110 days were needed for complete ulcer closure. The longer the ulcer had existed the longer was the healing time. Heel ulcers showed significantly slower healing response than leg, sole and toe ulcers. Preliminary results suggest that both keratinocytes and fibroblasts are equally effective in the healing process. The time required for healing of the diabetic ulcers did not differ markedly from that of the non-diabetic ulcers. The results suggest that cultured allogeneic skin cells used once weekly are effective in the treatment of recalcitrant diabetic ulcers.