Skin bank of Curitiba, Brazil: epidemiology of donors and recipients

ABSTRACT

Introduction:

Homologous skin grafting may represent the difference between the life and death of large burned patients. Its use consists of a precious treatment when there is no availability of autologous graft. The tissue banks were created to perform the processing and storage of the allogenous skin. The objective is to analyze the epidemiological profile of skin donors and recipients from the skin bank of the Hospital Universitário Evangélico Mackenzie (HUEM) and its productivity, from its inauguration in 2013 to 2019.

Methods:

Consultation of annual reports for the seven years.

Results:

The skin of 187 donors was captured, of which 61% were men and 39% were women. The mean age was 41.07 years. The number of donors averaged 21.3 per year. A total of 201,000cm2 of viable tissue were collected, which resulted in 3,770 skin slides. Since 2013, 325 allogenous grafts have been performed at HUEM that have benefited 194 people. The mean age of patients receiving the skin was 34.67 years. Most of the skin captured, processed, and stored by the HUEM bank (about 91%) was used in grafting carried out in the institution itself.

Conclusion:

The HUEM skin bank provided allografts that benefited 194 people in 7 years of operation. Most donors and recipients were male and approximately 40 years old. The number of captures performed by this skin bank was compatible with that of other institutions in Brazil.

Keywords:
Skin; Plastic surgery; Skin transplant; Burns; Tissue donors; Tissue transplant.