PODIATRIST USES FISH GRAFT TO SAVE PATIENT'S FOOT

posted: Jun. 10, 2022.

Jeff File was suffering from a non-healing wound that was infected and while staring down amputation, he met James LaPolla, DPM, who offered a relatively new procedure. It uses fish skin to initiate tissue regeneration, and a Vienna Township man says it saved his foot from being amputated.

 

Dr. James LaPolla, Jr.

 

"It's good for all types of wound care," Dr. Lapolla said. "The benefit of micro-3s [is that] it basically mimics the human skin if you take a slice of it in terms of the multiple layers of the fish skin and layers of human skin. It allows for revascularzation much easier than some other types of grafts, other than their own human grafts obviously, that would be the best. It also keeps a bacterial-free, infection-free wound bed that then allows the recipient, the patient's natural skin, to incorporate over that wound so you don't get a lot of scar tissue."

 

Source:  Derek Steyer, WFMJ [6/8/22]

Courtesy of Barry Block, editor of PM News