# US 9,517,082 B2 · Methods for preparing a skin graft without culturing or use of biologics

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- Number: US 9,517,082 B2
- Document ID: US9517082B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 14/589,739
- Filed: 2015-01-05
- Published: 2015-07-23
- Granted: 2016-12-13
- Earliest claimed: 2010-08-06
- Assignees: KCI Licensing, Inc.
- Applicants: KCI Licensing, Inc.
- Inventors: Sameer Ahmed Sabir; M. Josh Tolkoff; Andrew Ziegler
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US9517082B2

## CPC

- A61B 17/322: Skin grafting apparatus
- A61B 17/30: Surgical pincettes, i.e. surgical tweezers {without pivotal connections (for holding suture needles or materials A61B17/0483)}
- A61B 2017/306: {holding by means of suction}
- A61B 2017/3225: {with processing of harvested tissue}
- A61B: DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION (usefulness limited to only animals A61D)

## Abstract

The present invention generally relates to methods for preparing a skin graft without culturing or use of biologics.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method of skin grafting, the method comprising the steps of:
placing a skin graft device on a donor site, wherein the skin graft device comprises a hollow body;
creating a plurality of microblisters from the donor site by producing a negative pressure within the hollow body of the skin graft device;
placing a first substrate within said hollow body so as to contact at least a portion of said microblisters;
cutting the plurality of microblisters thereby creating a plurality of micrografts,
capturing the plurality of micrografts on the first substrate;
preparing said micrografts for transfer to a recipient site without culturing said micrografts or applying biologics to said micrografts; and
transferring said micrografts from said first substrate to a recipient site.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein each of the micrografts has a lateral dimension less than about 2 mm.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2, wherein each of the micrografts has a lateral dimension in a range of about 100 microns to about 1000 microns.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising expanding said first substrate thereby expanding a distance between each of the plurality of micrografts.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The method of claim 4, wherein expanding said first substrate is performed manually.

### Claim 6 (depends on 4)

The method of claim 4, wherein expanding said first substrate is performed mechanically.

### Claim 7 (depends on 4)

The method of claim 4, wherein expanding said first substrate is substantially uniform in all directions.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The method of claim 7, wherein expanding the substrate increases a ratio of an area of the recipient site to an area of the donor site by a factor in a range from about 10× to about 100×.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, wherein the recipient site comprises a burn.

### Claim 10 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, wherein the recipient site comprises an ulcerated tissue.

### Claim 11 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, wherein the recipient site comprises a depigmented tissue.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, wherein the depigmented tissue comprises vitiligo.

### Claim 13 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising transferring the micrografts from the first substrate to a second substrate.

### Claim 14 (depends on 13)

The method of claim 13, wherein the second substrate has a greater affinity for the micrografts than the first substrate.

### Claim 15 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14, wherein the second substrate comprises a hydrocolloid gel.

### Claim 16 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14, wherein the first substrate comprises a wetting agent.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The method of claim 16, wherein the wetting agent is selected from the group consisting of water and saline.

### Claim 18 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14, wherein at least one of the first substrate and the second substrate comprises an adhesive material.

### Claim 19 (depends on 18)

The method of claim 18, wherein the adhesive material comprises an adhesive spray.

### Claim 20 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the first substrate comprises a deformable non-resilient material.

### Claim 21 (depends on 20)

The method of claim 20, wherein the deformable non-resilient material comprises polyurethane.

### Claim 22 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the donor site comprises a pigmented skin site.