Human amnion in the management of chronic ulceration of the lower limb: a clinico-pathologic study.

This study shows that unmodified human amnion can make a useful contribution to the management of venous ulceration. By suppressing infection, and, by providing a healthy granulating surface, it significantly reduces the pre-skin graft preparation time, when compared with a conventional method of treatment. However, it does not seem to significantly influence the prospects of graft take, or of long term graft survival, in this comparison. A reversion towards normal of local vasculature, as characterized by vessel wall thinning and widening of the lumen, appears to be a significant tissue change induced by amnion treatment. Such a change may have considerable relevance in any analysis of the basis of the therapeutic efficacy of amnion.