Clinical skin banking: a simplified system for processing, storage, and retrieval of human allografts.

A simplified procedure for the harvest and preservation of human allograft skin for burn treatment is outlined. In establishing a skin bank to serve the San Diego County Regional Burn Treatment Center, our primary goals were to deliver a low-cost product, monitored to be free of significant bacterial contamination. Our own innovations include the use of Falcon 2070 tubes as packaging material, and the use of microwave energy for the safe, rapid thawing of liquid nitrogen stored tissue.