The fate of meshed allograft skin in burned patients using cyclosporin immunosuppression.

Three patients with burns of 35%, 60% and 25% were treated with cyclosporin after the application of allograft skin. Biopsies of the allografts were taken at appropriate intervals. The drug was continued for 3 weeks, 3 months and 3 weeks respectively without ill-effects on the patients. The allografts survived during cyclosporin treatment but were rejected 12 days after cessation of treatment in Case 1 and 5-7 days in Case 2. In Case 3 where a meshed auto/allograft 'sandwich' technique was used, there was no visible evidence of rejection. It is likely that the allograft was replaced by a "creeping substitution" in the sandwich technique. The Langerhans cell is probably not solely responsible for allograft rejection.