An experimental stem cell treatment is helping to speed up the healing process for burn victims, according to researchers at the University of Utah.
We've all heard of spray-on tans, and (ahem) clothing, but now the same principle of instant-application is being used to provide a speedy recovery process for those that are suffering from serious burns.
In clinical trials, surgeons Amit Patel and Amalia Cochran are testing "a concentrate of [the patient's own] platelets and progenitor cells with calcium and thrombin to create a Jello-like substance accelerates the healing process".
Popular Science reports that "in tests, the spray has proven effective in the treatment of small burns and seems to improve the likelihood that a skin graft will take, which could carry positive implications for the application of this technology to other types of transplants."
A similar treatment, called ReCell, is already being used in Australia, Europe and China and made headlines when it was used to treat of victims of a 2002 bombing in Bali.
So far, the spray-on treatment is only being used on patients with small burns, but the researchers hope that someday they maybe able to scale up the process to treat those who sustain burns on large areas of their body, like military personnel or people that have been caught in a house fire.
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