Akinori Okuda

Background: Skin grafting is currently the gold standard for managing traumatic skin defects. However, split-thickness skin grafting, the most common technique, is challenging because it yields a limited amount of skin and creates a new wound at the healthy donor site. RECELL (Avita Medical), a noncultured skin cell suspension technique, yields healing outcomes with comparable duration and quality to skin grafting for burn trauma. Although RECELL is widely used for burn trauma, its use for severe traumatic skin defects is not yet prevalent in Japan. Objective: This study aims to evaluate the utility of the RECELL skin reconstruction technique in trauma cases involving significant skin defects. Specifically, the primary aim is to validate the efficacy of the RECELL skin reconstruction technique when combined with split-thickness mesh grafting in patients with significant posttraumatic skin defects, with a particular focus on wound closure and scar quality. Methods: This prospective, single-center, open-label pilot study will enroll patients aged 16 years and older with traumatic limb skin defects ≥160 cm² and sufficient dermal-like tissue. Participants will undergo RECELL-assisted autologous skin grafting with mesh grafts under general anesthesia. Wound healing, scarring (Vancouver Scar Scale), and pain (visual analog scale) will be assessed up to 24 weeks postoperatively. The primary end point is ≥95% reepithelialization at postoperative day 14. Descriptive statistical analyses will be performed to evaluate outcomes and inform future randomized trials. Results: Patient recruitment began in April 2024 and is currently ongoing in our hospital. As of April 10, 2025, 10 patients had been screened, of whom 4 were enrolled. No adverse events or protocol deviations have been noted. Conclusions: This study aims to validate the utility of RECELL for skin defects resulting from trauma by assessing wound closure and scar formation, including adverse events, delayed healing, infection, and durability.

Background: Although early surgery is known to be effective for the treatment of traumatic cervical spinal cord injury (CSCI), whether it is equally effective in severe CSCI cases remains undetermined. This study aimed to determine whether surgery within 24 h improves the neurological prognosis and reduces the complications associated with surgery for traumatic severe CSCI.Methods: The data of 42 patients with traumatic severe CSCI with American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) Impairment Scale (AIS) grades A–B who underwent surgery between December 2007 and May 2018 were retrospectively reviewed. The participants were classified into early surgery (24 h) groups. Using the inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) with propensity score adjustment for confounding factors, the AIS grades before and 1 month following surgical treatment, which were considered the primary outcomes, were compared. The secondary outcomes were the intensive care unit length of stay (ICU-LOS) and occurrence of respiratory complications and cardiac arrest.Results: In the early surgery group (n = 32, 76%), the average time to surgery was 10.25 h (4–23 h). The IPTW analysis indicated significant differences in the neurological improvement according to the AIS grade at 1 month following surgery (odds ratio [OR]: 17.1, 95% confidence interval [Cl]: 1.9–156.7, p = 0.012), the ICU-LOS >7 days (OR: 0.14, 95% Cl: 0.02–0.90, p = 0.04), and the occurrence of respiratory complications (OR: 0.08, 95% Cl: 0.01–0.73, p = 0.03) and cardiac arrest (OR: 0.13, 95% Cl: 0.02–0.85, p = 0.03).Conclusions: Early surgery (within 24 h) for traumatic severe CSCI may improve the neurological prognosis and prevent a long ICU-LOS and postoperative complications.

Background This study aimed to determine whether surgery within 24 h improves the neurological prognosis and reduces the complications associated with surgery for traumatic severe cervical spinal cord injury (CSCI). Methods The data of 42 patients with traumatic severe CSCI with American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) Impairment Scale (AIS) grades of A–B who underwent surgery between December 2007 and May 2018 were retrospectively reviewed. The participants were divided into early surgery (< 24 h) and late surgery (> 24 h) groups. Using inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) with propensity score adjustment for confounding factors, the AIS grade before and 1 month following surgical treatment as the primary outcome were compared. The secondary outcome was the intensive care unit length of stay (ICU-LOS) and occurrence of respiratory complications and cardiac arrest. Results In the early surgery group (n = 32, 76%), the average time to surgery was 10.25 h (4–23 h). The IPTW analysis indicated significant differences in neurological improvement according to the AIS grade at 1 month following surgery (odds ratio [OR]: 17.1 95% confidence interval [Cl]: 1.9–156.7, p = 0.012), ICU-LOS > 7 days (OR: 0.14 95% Cl: 0.02–0.90, p = 0.04), respiratory complications (OR: 0.08 95% Cl: 0.01–0.73, p = 0.03), and cardiac arrest (OR: 0.13 95% Cl: 0.02–0.85, p = 0.03). Conclusions Early surgery (within 24 h) for traumatic severe CSCI may be effective in improving the neurological prognosis, and preventing a long ICU-LOS and postoperative complications.

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) are used for cell therapy for spinal cord injury (SCI) because of their ability to support tissue repair by paracrine signaling. Preclinical and clinical research testing MSC transplants for SCI have revealed limited success, which warrants the exploration of strategies to improve their therapeutic efficacy. MSC are sensitive to the microenvironment and their secretome can be altered in vitro by exposure to different culture media. Priming MSC with inflammatory stimuli increases the expression and secretion of reparative molecules. We studied the effect of macrophage-derived inflammation priming on MSC transplants and of primed MSC (pMSC) acute transplants (3 days) on spinal cord repair using an adult rat model of moderate–severe contusive SCI. We found a decrease in long-term survival of pMSC transplants compared with unprimed MSC transplants. With a pMSC transplant, we found significantly more anti-inflammatory macrophages in the contusion at 4 weeks post transplantation (wpt). Blood vessel presence and maturation in the contusion at 1 wpt was similar in rats that received pMSC or untreated MSC. Nervous tissue sparing and functional recovery were similar across groups. Our results indicate that macrophage-derived inflammation priming does not increase the overall therapeutic potential of an MSC transplant in the adult rat contused spinal cord.

Unstable sacral fractures are high-energy injuries and comprise polytrauma. Internal fixation to enable withstanding vertical loads is required to get up early from the bed after an unstable sacral fracture. We developed a new minimally invasive surgical (MIS) procedure for unstable pelvic ring fractures and reported it in Japanese in 2010. We presented our minimally invasive surgical technique of crab-shaped fixation for the treatment of unstable pelvic ring fractures and report on its short-term outcomes. Sixteen patients with unstable pelvic ring fractures (AO types C1, 2, and 3) were treated using crab-shaped fixation. All procedures were performed with the patient in the prone position through 5-cm skin incisions created bilaterally at the level of the posterior superior iliac spine. Four iliac screws were inserted and connected with two rods under the fascia. Percutaneous pedicle screws were inserted at L5 or L4 and connected to the iliac rod using offset connectors. Fracture reduction was then performed. The average surgical time was 158 min (range, 117–230 min), with an intraoperative bleeding volume of 299 ml (range, 80–480 ml). Thirty-three pedicle screws and 64 iliac screws were implanted with no instance of malpositioning or perforation. A surgical site infection developed in 2 of the 16 cases. Both were deep methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections, with the removal of the distal implants required in only one of these cases. Bony union was achieved in all patients, and all vertical displacements reduced by 7.0 mm, on average (range, 5.4–9.0 mm), to < 10 cm. Correction was retained in all cases. Crab-shaped fixation provides a feasible MIS approach for spinopelvic fixation, which allows good reduction of the vertical displacement of unstable pelvic ring fractures and bony union.