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Cited by 0Diabetic Foot Ulcer Assessment and ManagementWound Healing and TreatmentsTissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 39 of the 39 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 10 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.

Assessing the Outcomes and Complications of Skin Allografts in Healing Diabetic Foot and Venous Leg Ulcers: A Systematic Review of Randomised Controlled Trials

Open access
Mathe, Christopher, Reddi, Sachin, Nahm, William, Trikala, Aryaman, Schwartz, Samuel·2026·International Wound Journal

Abstract

Chronic diabetic foot ulcers and venous leg ulcers remain difficult to treat due to delayed healing and high complication rates. Biologic skin allografts derived from living or amniotic tissue provide extracellular matrix components, cytokines, growth factors and viable cells that facilitate tissue repair. This investigation systematically reviewed randomised controlled trials comparing Apligraf, Theraskin, Amnioband, Amnioexcel, EpiCord and Epifix for chronic lower extremity wounds. Searches were conducted in PubMed, Embase and Cochrane databases. Primary outcomes included complete wound closure at 12 weeks, time to healing and percent area reduction. Secondary outcomes included infection, amputation and recurrence rates. Nineteen trials with a total of 1303 participants met inclusion criteria. Analysis demonstrated statistical significance in 12‐week wound closure ( p = 0.0394), with Theraskin achieving the highest mean closure (84.7%) and Amnioexcel the lowest (37.5%). Epifix and Amnioband showed faster healing trends and greater closure advantages compared with standard care. Reported complications were uncommon and inconsistently defined. While no single graft demonstrated statistically superior outcomes, descriptive trends suggest Theraskin, Epifix and Amnioband may offer greater clinical benefit. These findings provide comparative insight to guide clinical selection of skin substitutes and highlight the need for large‐scale head‐to‐head trials to establish relative efficacy.

Overview

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TL;DR

This systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs compared six skin allografts for diabetic foot and venous leg ulcers and found a statistically significant overall difference in 12-week wound closure, but no significant pairwise differences between grafts. Descriptive trends favored Theraskin, Epifix, and Amnioband, while complications were uncommon but inconsistently defined.

Key findings

  • Across included trials, 12-week wound closure differed significantly by graft type (p = 0.0394; the Discussion also reports p = 0.0256), but Tukey–Kramer post hoc testing found no statistically significant pairwise comparisons. Theraskin had the highest mean closure (84.7%) and Amnioexcel the lowest (37.5%).
  • Percent area reduction was not significantly different across Amnioband, Theraskin, and Epifix (χ²(2) = 3.20, p = 0.2019); Amnioband had the highest mean PAR (88.9%), followed by Theraskin (77.8%) and Epifix (66%).
  • Wound closure difference versus standard of care was not statistically significant (χ²(3) = 7.40, p = 0.0601); Epifix (mean = 48%) and Amnioband (mean = 46.5%) showed higher differences, followed by Theraskin (40%) and Apligraf (20.5%).
  • Time-to-healing was summarized descriptively only: Epifix had the shortest median (13 days), followed by Amnioband (37 days), Theraskin (47 days), and Apligraf (range 49–181 days). Complications were generally lower in graft-treated ulcers but inconsistently reported.

Methods

  • Systematic review and meta-analysis conducted per PRISMA; searches of PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane from inception to April 30, 2025, for English-language RCTs in adults ≥18 years with DFUs and/or VLUs comparing Apligraf, Theraskin, Amnioband, Amnioexcel, EpiCord, or Epifix against SOC or another allograft.
  • Two independent reviewers screened and extracted data; quality/bias assessed with RoB2 and the Downs and Black Checklist. The abstract reports 19 trials with 1303 participants, while the Results section reports 20 RCTs involving 1303 patients.
  • Statistical analysis used JMP Pro 18; Levene’s test assessed homogeneity, with one-way ANOVA plus Tukey’s HSD for homogeneous outcomes and Kruskal–Wallis plus Bonferroni-adjusted pairwise comparisons for heterogeneous outcomes; α = 0.05.

Limitations

  • The paper states heterogeneity among included studies, small sample sizes, variable RCT quality, and challenges comparing specific allografts; DFU and VLU pathophysiologies differ, limiting comparability, and each RCT had unique inclusion/exclusion criteria and intervention protocols.
  • The paper also states limited statistical power and risk of type II error, few studies for some allografts weakening subgroup analysis, and inconsistent complication reporting/definitions that prevented quantitative meta-analysis.
  • Evident in the text: trial count differs between the abstract (19 trials) and Results (20 RCTs), and the 12-week closure p-value differs between the abstract/Results (p = 0.0394) and Discussion (p = 0.0256); time-to-healing had fewer than three data points per graft, so no inferential analysis was performed.

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Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1111/iwj.70892

Cites

39 of 39 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

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Citations

Cites

Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. Browse N. L., 2005, Mechanisms of Vascular Disease: A Reference Book for Vascular Specialists
  2. Baranoski S. A. E., 2020, Wound Care Essentials, 199
  3. Schmid P., 2000, Immunohistologic Characterization of Graftskin (Apligraf), Wounds, 12, 4A

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Metadata

Authors
Mathe, C., Reddi, S., Nahm, W., Trikala, A., & Schwartz, S.
Affiliations
  • California University of Science and Medicine (US)
  • California University of Science and Medicine Colton California USA
  • New York University (US)
Corresponding author
Mathe, Christopher
Venue
International Wound Journal
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2026-06
Volume
23
Issue
6
Pages
e70892-e70892
ISSN
  • 1742-4801 (ISSN-L)
  • 1742-481X
OpenAlex
W7163575583
Cited by
0
References
39
FWCI
0.00
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • International Wound Journal (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Diabetic Foot Ulcer Assessment and Management
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Wound Healing and Treatments
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine
Keywords
skin allografts, diabetic foot ulcer, venous leg ulcers, wound healing, Apligraf, wound closure, amputation, wound infection, chronic wounds
MeSH terms
Aged, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Varicose Ulcer, Wound Healing, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic, Skin Transplantation, Treatment Outcome, Diabetic Foot, Skin, Artificial, Allografts

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Data sources

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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

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