A South Australian man with burns to 95 per cent of his body has become the first person in the world to benefit from a cutting-edge new skin treatment.
Glenn Ogg, 33, suffered serious, full-thickness burns and severe smoke inhalation in a house fire in December, 2018.
He was the first patient to receive composite cultured skin (CCS) treatment, developed by Dr John Greenwood at Royal Adelaide Hospital's skin engineering laboratory.
The treatment involves growing skin in a specially-designed bioreactor, while a dermal skin replacement - another new treatment - is used on the patient's burn wounds.
"Every aspect of how these two technologies works together has seen Glenn not only survive but make a remarkable recovery in less than six months," Dr Greenwood said.
After the fire, Mr Ogg's deep burns were immediately removed and a skin graft was taken from his scalp to create 26 pieces of CCS.
The skin replacement was applied in a second surgery before the new skin grew over the following five weeks and was eventually used to close the burn wounds.
Mr Greenwood said Mr Ogg was removed from the intensive care unit and breathing without a ventilator within nine days of the fire and first walked after 28 days.
"In a comparable case reported in the UK, a patient spent more than 40 days in the ICU and left hospital after a year still unable to walk," he said.
"In many cases patients don't survive and when they do they usually depend on a ventilator for months and often experience severe kidney failure from tissue injuries."
He said Mr Ogg's speedy recovery was also testament to Burra Hospital, Medstar Retrieval Service and the RAH's emergency department, intensive care unit and burns unit teams.
"Importantly, Glenn has also had fabulous support from his family and friends," he said.
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