Latest news with #Kerecis
Daily Record
4 days ago
- General
- Daily Record
Premature baby girl's life-threatening 'flesh-heating disease' wound healed with fish skin
Eliana DeVos was struck down with a serious, fast-spreading infection after being born extremely premature Welcoming a child into the world is a beautiful time but can also be worrying for parents if things don't necessarily go according to plan. If your baby's born before 37 weeks, they're said to be premature. Premature babies are likely to be small and may have health issues. But one baby girl who burst into the world before her due date suffered a few more difficulties than others - and what cured her is utterly fascinating. Eliana DeVos, from Texas, USA, was born extremely premature at 23 weeks and weighing just one pound. She spent 131 days in neonatal intensive care, where she developed a severe, fast-spreading infection on her neck. The infection led to sepsis, a dangerous condition that can shut down the organs. As her condition worsened, her family and doctors looked for anything that might help. Doctors say the infection nearly took her life. And the thing that ended up saving her? Fish skin. "It was almost like a flesh-eating disease," her mother told CNN. "Her body was attacking something in her neck." That's when doctors came up with a new alternative - using fish skin to help her wound heal. Dr Vanessa Dimas, a paediatric plastic surgeon, said Eliana was too fragile for surgery or a human skin graft. Instead, she and wound care nurse practitioner Roxana Reyna used a medical honey solution to clean the wound. Then they added fish skin, a medical product made from wild North Atlantic cod, to help it close and heal. The fish skin—made by the Icelandic company Kerecis—acts like a scaffold, helping new skin tissue grow. It's close to human skin in structure and contains omega oils and other natural healing elements. "Once it basically does its job helping the wound heal, it sort of just melts away," Dimas said. In Eliana's case, the results came quickly. After just three days, doctors noticed "dramatic" improvements. They changed her dressings every three days and ten days after the first fish skin treatment, her wound had closed—with little scarring and no surgery, CNN reported. "There were no adverse reactions," Dimas and Reyna wrote in a report presented in March at the European Wound Management Association Conference in Barcelona, Spain. Doctors say Eliana was probably the first premature baby so small to receive this treatment. Her scare is barely visible three years on. Fish skin has been used for wound care around the world, but not often in children, and especially not in babies as small as Eliana. Animal tissue has become a promising candidate for wound healing due to factors including their abundant sources, low side-effect profiles, exceptional bioactivity, and biocompatibility, according to the National Library of Medicine. Other tissue can come from animals like pigs or cows. Although they don't replace skin, they can act as temporary dressing to keep a wound clean and help healing begin. A caveat to the process is that not all wounds heal with these methods, and medics must be careful of allergies, especially to fish. This is especially pertinent in babies because it's not always obvious when they have allergies. "That would be the biggest risk - an unknown allergy that could potentially cause some problems," Dimas added. "Other than that, there's still a chance that the kid may need surgery, because we don't know how much this is going to help us heal the child." Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'.
Business Wire
5 days ago
- Business
- Business Wire
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana to Cover Kerecis Fish Skin Grafts for Diabetic Foot Ulcers
ARLINGTON, Va & REYKJAVÍK, Iceland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Kerecis, the company pioneering the use of sustainably sourced fish skin in cellular therapy and tissue regeneration, announces that Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana (BCBSLA) has added Kerecis MariGen® to its list of covered treatments for diabetic foot ulcers, effective August 1, 2025. 'With this coverage, BCBS of Louisiana is helping to bring innovative treatment within reach for more people living with chronic wounds, especially in a region where diabetes-related complications are a growing concern.' Share The decision provides access to Kerecis' intact fish-skin technology for more than 1.6 million BCBSLA members, marking a meaningful expansion of regenerative wound care in the Gulf South. With this addition, Kerecis products are now covered by insurance plans representing more than 200 million Americans nationwide. The coverage is available for diabetic foot ulcers that have not responded to standard wound care and must meet established medical necessity requirements. 'Wounds that don't heal can lead to serious complications and increased costs for patients and the healthcare system,' said Fertram Sigurjonsson, Founder and CEO of Kerecis. 'With this coverage, BCBS of Louisiana is helping to bring innovative treatment within reach for more people living with chronic wounds, especially in a region where diabetes-related complications are a growing concern.' Kerecis MariGen® is an FDA-cleared graft made from intact fish skin sustainably sourced from North Atlantic cod. Its structure closely resembles human tissue, supporting natural healing without the disease transmission risks associated with products of human and porcine origin. The clinical impact of MariGen® is supported by a growing body of evidence, including the Odinn Study, the largest randomized controlled trial to date of skin substitutes for diabetic foot ulcers with exposed bone or tendon. MariGen® is used in outpatient clinics, wound centers, and hospitals across the United States. About Kerecis Kerecis, founded by Fertram Sigurjonsson, develops intact fish skin products for cellular therapy, tissue regeneration, and protection. When grafted onto damaged human tissue or implanted, the patented material supports the body's own processes to heal and regenerate. Because no disease-transfer risk exists between cold-water fish and humans, the Kerecis fish-skin is only gently processed and retains its similarity to human tissue. The gentle processing preserves the skin's original three-dimensional structure, maintaining its inherent natural strength, complexity, and molecules (such as fatty acids). Clinical studies show that Kerecis products heal wounds faster than competitors. Kerecis is the only global manufacturer of medical devices containing intact fish-skin and is the fastest growing company in the U.S. biologics skin market. Products include SurgiBind®/SuriClose®, GraftGuide®, MariGen®, and Shield™ for various medical applications. Committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Kerecis uses sustainably sourced Icelandic fish processed with renewable energy. Kerecis is a part of Coloplast, a leading supplier of intimate healthcare products. For more information about Kerecis and its clinical research, visit Trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
CNN
6 days ago
- General
- CNN
Texas girl thriving after fish skin helped heal her wound as a preemie: ‘I call her my little mermaid'
Children's healthFacebookTweetLink Follow When Krystal DeVos watches her young daughter, Eliana, play with an Ariel doll, her eyes fill with emotion. 'I call her my little mermaid,' DeVos said of her daughter. Shortly after Eliana was born, it was the healing power of fish skin that helped her recover from a deep wound on her neck. 'Eliana actually has no idea,' said DeVos, who lives in Corpus Christi, Texas. 'Of course, as she gets older, we do want to go back and show her pictures and explain to her what has happened, because it is a part of her story and it's so unique.' Eliana's story began about three years ago, when she was born at 23 weeks gestation, weighing a single pound. She spent 131 days in neonatal intensive care units, during which she developed a life-threatening infection on her neck that caused a severe wound. 'It was almost like a flesh-eating disease, where her body was targeting something there in her neck,' DeVos said. As the infection grew, Eliana developed sepsis, the body's extreme response to an infection, causing some of her organs to shut down. Day after day, DeVos and her family consistently prayed for Eliana to recover. Then the medical team told her about a surprising treatment option. On day 86 of her NICU stay, Eliana was transferred from her local general hospital to Driscoll Children's Hospital in Corpus Christi. She received several medications to treat the infection at both hospitals, including antibiotic therapy. But it was at Driscoll that fish skin became a novel part of her wound care. 'It's microscopically so close to human skin that it helps the wound start to heal,' said Dr. Vanessa Dimas, a pediatric plastic surgeon at Driscoll who treated Eliana. When Dimas first met Eliana, she knew that she would need to do two things: remove the buildup of dead skin tissue from the wound and cover it with some type of treatment to help healthy tissue grow back. But the more traditional approaches – like surgery or a human skin graft – were either too risky or not feasible for a preterm infant like Eliana. Her condition was too fragile. 'She was a premature baby, the wound was very extensive, and she was pretty sick, so I did not feel like it was safe to do a surgical procedure on her,' Dimas said. Instead, Dimas and her colleague Roxana Reyna, a wound ostomy nurse practitioner at Driscoll, used a medical-grade honey solution to clean out the wound. Then they applied a mixture of that honey with fish skin to cover the area. The fish skin – a medical product made from wild North Atlantic cod and manufactured by the Icelandic company Kerecis – provided a scaffold, or a type of platform, for new skin tissue to grow. Some of the omega oils and other natural elements from the fish skin helped contribute to the healing process, Dimas said, adding that 'once it basically does its job, helping the wound heal, then it sort of just melts away.' Potential risks of this fish skin treatment include reactions in children with fish allergies; for infants, it may not be known whether they have an allergy at all. 'That would be the biggest risk: an unknown allergy that could potentially cause some problems,' Dimas said. 'Other than that, there's still a chance that the kid may need surgery, because we don't know how much this is going to help us heal the child.' But for Eliana, the fish skin treatment was well-tolerated and appeared to promote healing. Fish skin has been used for wound care in people around the world, but its use in children – let alone infants – remains rare. In March, Dimas and Reyna presented data about their approach for preterm infants at the European Wound Management Association Conference in Barcelona, Spain. They talked about two case studies: Eliana and a critically ill preterm baby with an abdominal wound. 'Eliana weighed 3 pounds on the day we applied the fish skin graft,' Reyna said. The other patient weighed 1 pound during their treatment. 'Since Eliana, now we have been able to feel confident enough to use it in even smaller babies,' Reyna said. Driscoll Children's Hospital says Eliana's care team appears to be the first to implement Kerecis fish skin in wound care for a single-pound preterm baby. Reyna and Dimas have been recognized for their work, and because of their innovative use of the product, Kerecis has invited them to share their clinical insights in public forums. The concept of using fish skin to help heal damaged tissue in humans has been around for years, but it's still not a very common practice, said Dr. Arun Gosain, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics' Section on Plastic Surgery and division head of plastic surgery at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. 'There are so many different options' for wound treatment, depending on the depth and severity of the wound, he said. Some approaches involve tissue from other types of animals. 'There are other forms of what we call xenografts, or taking tissue from another species and using it for wound healing,' said Gosain, who was not involved in Eliana's case. For instance, skin from pigs has been commonly used in wound care, as well as collagen from cattle. 'Xenografts may have potential in the future, but they're not used for skin replacement. It's only used for a biologic dressing currently,' he said. Biologic dressings help to temporarily cover wounds and support the natural healing process, essentially aiding in either the wound healing on its own or preparing it for a surgical treatment to close it. For example, someone who has a 'full-thickness wound' – meaning it extends through all three layers of the skin – that isn't healing on its own could benefit from some type of temporary biologic dressing, Gosain said. In that scenario, 'I could use pig skin,' he said. 'We would put that on there as a biologic dressing, realizing that it won't regenerate skin, but it will keep the wound clean until we're ready to transfer the patient's own skin, in some form, to close the wound, whether it be a skin graft or other such thing.' In their case study, Reyna and Dimas described Eliana as having a 'full-thickness wound,' but after three days of the fish skin treatment, they noted 'dramatic results.' They continued to change her dressing every three days, and after the wound was cleaned and dead skin tissue had been removed, it healed in 10 days after the first fish skin mixture was applied, with minimal scarring, according to the study. 'There were no adverse reactions, and additional surgical interventions were unnecessary,' they wrote. Three years later, Eliana's scar is so faint, it's barely noticeable. DeVos said she was inspired by watching fish skin promote the healing of her daughter's wound, and she hopes Eliana's story can help contribute to the world's understanding of fish skin as a medical tool. 'What I hope people take away is that we can be grateful for modern medicine and the power of faith,' she said. 'Never be fearful to try something new. Always be open-minded and just have faith,' she said. 'If something sounds different or you've never been exposed to it before, just take a chance and have a little faith. And in our case, it worked out really great.'
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Cigna Adds Kerecis Intact Fish-Skin Grafts to Coverage Policy
Expanded coverage brings access to nearly 200 million Americans ARLINGTON, Va. & REYKJAVIK, Iceland, May 23, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Kerecis, the company pioneering the use of sustainably sourced fish skin and fatty acids in cellular therapy and tissue regeneration, today announced that Cigna, one of the largest health insurers in the United States, now includes Kerecis products in its medical coverage policy for the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers. With this policy update, Kerecis fish-skin grafts — including the MariGen® and Shield® product lines — became available to tens of millions of additional Americans. In total, nearly 200 million people in the United States are now covered under commercial insurance plans that recognize fish-skin grafts as medically necessary for chronic wound care. Cigna's inclusion adds to the growing list of national and regional payers that support the clinical and economic value of intact fish skin for non-healing wounds. The coverage applies to patients whose diabetic foot ulcers have not adequately responded to conventional treatments and meet specified clinical criteria. "Access is a critical part of improving outcomes in chronic wound care," said Fertram Sigurjonsson, Founder and CEO of Kerecis. "We are pleased that Cigna recognizes the clinical value of our technology and that more patients can now benefit from regenerative fish skin as part of their treatment options." About Kerecis Kerecis, founded by Fertram Sigurjonsson, develops fish skin and fatty acid products for cellular therapy, tissue regeneration, and protection. When grafted onto damaged human tissue or implanted, the patented material supports the body's own processes to heal and regenerate. Because no disease-transfer risk exists between cold-water fish and humans, the Kerecis fish-skin is only gently processed and retains its similarity to human tissue. The gentle processing preserves the skin's original three-dimensional structure, maintaining its inherent natural strength, complexity, and molecules (such as fatty acids). Clinical studies show that Kerecis products heal wounds faster than competitors. Kerecis is the only global manufacturer of medical devices containing intact fish-skin and is the fastest growing company in the U.S. biologics skin market. Products include SurgiBind®/SuriClose®, GraftGuide®, MariGen®, and Shield™ for various medical applications. Committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Kerecis uses sustainably sourced Icelandic fish processed with renewable energy. Kerecis is a part of Coloplast, a leading supplier of intimate healthcare products. For more information about Kerecis and its clinical research, visit Trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. View source version on Contacts Media Relations Agency (952) 697 5220
Associated Press
23-05-2025
- Health
- Associated Press
Cigna Adds Kerecis Intact Fish-Skin Grafts to Coverage Policy
ARLINGTON, Va. & REYKJAVIK, Iceland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 23, 2025-- Kerecis, the company pioneering the use of sustainably sourced fish skin and fatty acids in cellular therapy and tissue regeneration, today announced that Cigna, one of the largest health insurers in the United States, now includes Kerecis products in its medical coverage policy for the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: MariGen® With this policy update, Kerecis fish-skin grafts — including the MariGen ® and Shield ® product lines — became available to tens of millions of additional Americans. In total, nearly 200 million people in the United States are now covered under commercial insurance plans that recognize fish-skin grafts as medically necessary for chronic wound care. Cigna's inclusion adds to the growing list of national and regional payers that support the clinical and economic value of intact fish skin for non-healing wounds. The coverage applies to patients whose diabetic foot ulcers have not adequately responded to conventional treatments and meet specified clinical criteria. 'Access is a critical part of improving outcomes in chronic wound care,' said Fertram Sigurjonsson, Founder and CEO of Kerecis. 'We are pleased that Cigna recognizes the clinical value of our technology and that more patients can now benefit from regenerative fish skin as part of their treatment options.' About Kerecis Kerecis, founded by Fertram Sigurjonsson, develops fish skin and fatty acid products for cellular therapy, tissue regeneration, and protection. When grafted onto damaged human tissue or implanted, the patented material supports the body's own processes to heal and regenerate. Because no disease-transfer risk exists between cold-water fish and humans, the Kerecis fish-skin is only gently processed and retains its similarity to human tissue. The gentle processing preserves the skin's original three-dimensional structure, maintaining its inherent natural strength, complexity, and molecules (such as fatty acids). Clinical studies show that Kerecis products heal wounds faster than competitors. Kerecis is the only global manufacturer of medical devices containing intact fish-skin and is the fastest growing company in the U.S. biologics skin market. Products include SurgiBind ® /SuriClose ®, GraftGuide ®, MariGen ®, and Shield™ for various medical applications. Committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Kerecis uses sustainably sourced Icelandic fish processed with renewable energy. Kerecis is a part of Coloplast, a leading supplier of intimate healthcare products. For more information about Kerecis and its clinical research, visit Trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. View source version on Media Relations Agency (952) 697 5220 KEYWORD: EUROPE UNITED STATES ICELAND NORTH AMERICA DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA VIRGINIA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: DIABETES HEALTH INSURANCE SURGERY PROFESSIONAL SERVICES OTHER SCIENCE ENVIRONMENT MEDICAL DEVICES SUSTAINABILITY HOSPITALS HEALTH TECHNOLOGY HEALTH INSURANCE SCIENCE MEDICAL SUPPLIES SOURCE: Kerecis Copyright Business Wire 2025. PUB: 05/23/2025 09:30 AM/DISC: 05/23/2025 09:29 AM
