Katie Bush, Ph.D. on Revolutionizing Burn Treatment with RECELL

Credit: Adobe Stock/Valerii Apetroaiei

In an interview with The Educated Patient, Katie Bush, Ph.D., senior vice president of Scientific & Medical Affairs at AVITA Medical, discussed the transformative potential of the RECELL System, a skin regeneration technology designed to treat burns and other skin defects. Unlike traditional skin grafting, which requires a large donor site and involves significant pain, scarring and healing challenges, RECELL uses a small skin sample to create Spray-On Skin Cells that accelerate wound healing and improve cosmetic outcomes.

The system has been adopted by leading burn centers across the United States and is U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved for treating thermal burns and full-thickness skin defects.

Bush highlighted RECELL’s ability to reduce hospital stays, enhance physical and emotional recovery for burn survivors, and provide hope for those navigating the challenges of healing and body image after severe burns.

Can you explain how this new skin regeneration technology works and how it differs from traditional skin grafting?

Katie Bush, Ph.D.: Skin grafting is a surgical procedure that requires a large skin sample from the patient to cover damaged or lost skin resulting from burns, trauma or areas where the skin has been surgically excised. It is the current standard of care for treating deep partial and full-thickness wounds. Significant risks are associated with this procedure, including severe pain, delayed healing, infection, discoloration and scarring.

AVITA Medical’s RECELLSystem harnesses the regenerative properties of the patient’s skin to prepare Spray-On Skin Cells, which are used to treat the patient. Spray-On Skin Cells contain the patient’s single living cells to stimulate healing and repigmentation when applied to the wound.

Traditional skin grafting and RECELL use a sample of the patient's healthy skin, but RECELL is much more conservative. It can expand a piece of skin up to 80 times its size. For example, if a patient’s entire back were burned and needed new skin, the device would only need a healthy sample size of a credit card — typical skin grafts require a much larger section of healthy skin, which can often be limited in burn patients.

What are the main benefits of using this technology over traditional methods?

K.B.: The advantages of RECELL are significant. The use of RECELL has been shown to accelerate wound healing at the cellular level. Additionally, it requires less skin, leading to faster donor site closure, reduced pain and better cosmetic outcomes compared with traditional skin graft harvesting. Moreover, clinical data indicate a reduction in the number of surgical procedures and a shorter hospital stay.

For patients, the advantages are profound: less pain, a faster recovery and improved aesthetic outcomes at the donor site, thus reducing the physical and emotional toll on a patient during their healing journey.

How does this technology impact the healing process and reduce scarring for patients?

K.B.: The longer a patient’s wounds remain open and do not have closure, the more likely they will have less than optimal outcomes. Wound closure is extremely important for health. Currently, the standard around wound closure is using an autologous skin graft. After the sample is harvested, the donor site(s) are left to heal on their own. As you can imagine, the more donor skin harvested, the larger the wound, the harder it is to heal properly and the more risk associated with secondary infection, improper wound closure, and pain.

Contrast that with skin regeneration technology. AVITA Medical’s autologous cell harvesting device allows the surgeon to take a small sample of the patient's skin, often the size of a postage stamp, in the operating room and create a cell suspension that is sprayed back onto the patient’s wound. Less donor skin is required for definitive closure, and the donor site heals faster, with less pain and scarring for the patient.

Is this technology available at most burn treatment centers, and how accessible is it to patients across the U.S.?

K.B.: AVITA Medical’s RECELL System technology is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treating thermal burn wounds and full-thickness skin defects. RECELL is available in the majority of leading burn centers across the U.S. In May of this year, the company announced FDA approval of RECELL GO, a next-generation system. Since then, approximately 300 burn and trauma centers across the U.S. have adopted RECELL GO to treat full-thickness skin defects.

For burn survivors who often struggle with body image and mental health, how can this technology help improve their self-esteem and quality of life?

K.B.: Each year, over 450,000 individuals in the U.S. suffer burns severe enough to require medical treatment. Beyond the physical healing, the emotional toll of these injuries can be just as severe. Approximately 33% of burn survivors experience dissatisfaction with their body image, which can lead to significant psychological distress, including anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

RECELL provides many benefits to patients. It was designed to enhance patient healing and improve overall treatment experience and outcomes. Using RECELL, compared with traditional techniques, decreases the length of stay and reduces the number of surgical procedures required for definitive closure. It allows the patient to get back to their lives faster.

What advice would you give to burn survivors who are feeling uncertain or anxious about trying this new approach?

K.B.: Being treated for a burn wound can undoubtedly be overwhelming and emotionally challenging for any patient. Feeling uncertain or anxious about trying a new approach is completely normal. However, it’s important to trust that if a physician has chosen to use this technology, they are confident it offers the best potential outcomes for recovery. Additionally, the safety and effectiveness of this technology have been proven in multiple clinical studies.

How do you think this technology could potentially transform burn care in the future?

K.B.: The largest benefit of skin regeneration technology is the ability to reduce the burden of the burn on the patient. From the healthcare perspective, this innovative technology allows for robust healing outcomes at both the treatment and donor sites. It significantly alleviates donor site pain, and the clinical outcomes translate into overall cost savings for the hospital by decreasing the number of operations and length of hospital stay.