Cascade® Autologous System Platelet-Rich Fibrin Matrix in the Treatment of Chronic Leg Ulcers

Abstract

Lower extremity ulcers (venous, diabetic) are often unresponsive to standard treatment. Various systemic and local cellular, vascular, and anatomical factors can result in nonhealing wounds that are refractory to normal healing processes and standard care. Several published wound care guidelines strongly suggest that if an ulcer does not respond to standard good wound care within 4 weeks, then advanced wound therapies should be considered. These advanced therapies include wound bed preparation agents (negative wound pressure therapy, hyperbaric oxygen), recombinant growth factors, or bioengineered cell therapies. The Cascade® system produces platelet-rich fibrin matrix (PRFM), a novel autologous sterile biologic, produced at the bedside from a small volume (18 mL) of the patient's own blood by using Vacutainer® separation technology optimized for fibrin and platelet isolation. Prepared as an easy to apply, suturable membrane, without the use of exogenous thrombin, PRFM consists of a dense cross-linked fibrin lattice containing intact, viable platelets with their full complement of platelet-derived growth factors. From the FDA 510(k) clearance: The Cascade system "is designed to be used for the safe and rapid preparation of autologous platelet-rich plasma from a small sample of blood at the patient point of care." PRFM has been used to successfully treat severe venous leg ulcer (VLU), neuropathic diabetic foot ulcer (DFU), mixed arterial and Charcot-deformity associated foot ulcers. When treating venous or DFUs, the Cascade system should be used together with standard wound care practice (therapeutic compression for VLU and weight off-loading, debridement, and infection control for DFU) in patients with an adequate blood supply to the lower limb.