Purpose: This article describes the use of tissue-engineered mucosal grafts instead of split-thickness skin grafts after freeing of the tongue in patients who had previous resection of an oral squamous cell carcinoma and initial primary wound closure.
Patients and methods: Tissue-engineered mucosal grafts, up to 75 cm2 in size, were cultured from biopsy specimens of the hard palate in 6 patients, starting 3 to 4 weeks before the operation. After freeing of the tongue, the engineered mucosa was implanted on the wound surface by using vaseline gauze as carrier and fixed with an intraoral gauze wound dressing.
Results: A good glossoalveolar sulcus was formed in 5 patients, resulting in good mobility of the tongue and a satisfactory denture-bearing surface. In 1 patient, there was a disturbance of wound healing, leading to severe shrinkage of the glossoalveolar sulcus and very limited improvement in tongue mobility. Preoperative bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) labeling of the graft and postoperative immunohistochemical staining of biopsy specimens from the grafted areas with anti-BrdU showed that the cultured cells are integrated into the newly formed mucosal epithelium. Postoperative histologic investigations showed a differentiation process in the grafted mucosal epithelium, with a change in the expression of cytokeratins. At 6 months postoperatively, the typical pattern of normal nongrafted mucosa was regained.
Conclusions: This investigation provides evidence that tissue-engineered mucosal cells can serve as a graft for large intraoral wounds. Complete intraoral lining is quickly reestablished, and normal epithelial differentiation is seen in the graft area within a 6-month postoperative period.