A Bovine Dermal Collagen Matrix (BDCM) Advances Readiness to Autografting: A Case Series

Dermal matrices have become fundamental in managing deep surgical and traumatic wounds, while promoting scar reduction and improved functional outcomes.However, conventional dermal matrices often require 2-4 weeks to achieve a sufficiently vascularized wound bed for autografting, which delays definitive wound closure and potentially increases the risk of infection, pain, and hospital length of stay.A young bovine dermal collagen matrix (BDCM) comprised of crosslinked, highly-purified, structurally intact, collagen type I and type III has demonstrated autograft readiness preclinically at 7 days.Our center was the first in the world to utilize the BDCM and to evaluate if the preclinical timeline translated into clinical utilization.A retrospective chart review was conducted from January to March 2025 to evaluate the early clinical use of the BDCM in two patients with full-thickness wounds.Data collected included surgical timelines, wound bed readiness, autograft outcomes, and complications.In case 1, a 67-year-old female with multiple comorbidities and a full-thickness hand wound achieved a well-vascularized wound bed by day 5 and underwent successful autografting on day 7 post-BDCM application with 100% graft take and reepithelialization.In case 2, a 48-year-old male with a full-thickness wound had a well-vascularized wound bed by day 10 and autografting on day 13 post-BDCM application with 80% graft take and functional recovery.Both cases demonstrated fast BDCM integration and a well-vascularized wound bed within 5-10 days.Our initial experience indicates the BDCM is a safe and effective dermal matrix option to advance speed to wound bed vascularization and autograft readiness.