Use of Fresh Scalp Allografts From Living Relatives for Extensive Deep Burns in Children: A Clinical Study Over 7 Years

Conventionally, pediatric patients with major burns need frozen cadaveric allografts to save their lives. However, these allografts are insufficient in many burn units because of cultural and local governmental laws in China. This paper reported 22 pediatric patients with major burns who received fresh scalp allografts from their parents, siblings, or relatives from January 2011 to December 2017. These 22 pediatric patients sustained deep partial-thickness to full-thickness burns involving 40% total body surface area (TBSA) on average. Wounds were covered with fresh scalp allografts alone or with postage stamp autografts and fresh scalp allografts post excision. Data were collected from medical files of the treated patients, including sex, age, etiology of burn injury, abbreviated burn severity index (ABSI), and TBSA. Postoperative variables included early survival rate of skin grafts, mean time to rejection, length of hospital stay (LHS), healing time of donor sites, and follow-up complications of donors. The 1-year survival rate of the 22 pediatric patients included into the study was 100%. The early survival rate of the scalp allografts was similar to the autografts. The mean time to rejection was 15.5 +/- 3.60 days. The average LHS was 58 days. All donor sites healed within 7.6 days on average, without scar formation, alopecia areata, or folliculitis. Following up data of the donors revealed a full psychological sense of accomplishment and no regrets of donating the scalp to save the burned children. Therefore, the use of fresh scalp allografts is a feasible alternative to save pediatric patients with major burns when frozen allografts are unavailable.