Tissue engineered skin for diabetic foot ulcers: a meta-analysis.

To evaluate the effectiveness of tissue engineered skin in the management of diabetic foot ulcer. We searched PubMed, EMBASE and ISI Web of Science database in order to obtain the randomized controlled trial with interventions of tissue engineered skin. A meta-analysis was used to compare the effectiveness between tissue engineered skin and conventional treatment in the patients with diabetic foot ulcer. This meta-analysis was performed by STATA 11 software. The risk factor was analyzed by random effect model pooled odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Moreover, the funnel plot was used to assess the published bias of articles. Eight studies were included, and a total of 1060 cases were involved for this meta-analysis. The OR of tissue engineered skin for diabetic foot ulcers was 1.76 (95% CI: 1.35-2.30). A subgroup analysis was conducted for different types of tissue engineering skin, combined OR was 1.91 (95% CI: 1.12-3.27) for Derma graft, 2.05 (95% CI: 1.20-3.50) for Graft skin and 1.57 (95% CI: 0.91-2.70) for Hyalo graft 3D. Applying tissue engineered skin is more effective in the improvement of wound closure in patients with diabetic foot ulcers, compared with conventional treatment.