Top 10 Innovations in Podiatry 2022: Matrion by LifeNet Health

Dr. Shabazz discloses he is a consultant for LifeNet Health.

My name is Dr. Zakee Shabazz. I am a board certified podiatrist in foot and ankle surgery. My practice is located in Fairfax, Virginia, which is a suburb within the Northern Virginia area outside of Washington, DC. I've been the past chief of podiatry at Inova Fair Oaks Hospital. I'm currently the president of the Northern Virginia sector of the Virginia Podiatric Medical Association. My practice is mostly involved with sports medicine, reconstructive foot and ankle surgery, as well as wound care. I've been doing wound care since beginning private practice in 2004 and within the setting of the office, hospital, as well as wound care center setting. What about Matrion? Matrion is the first tri-layer placental allograft that's on the market today. It has an amnion layer, chorion layer, as well as a trophoblastic layer. What makes it unique is the trophoblastic layer, which is that third layer. It's the area that contains most of the growth factors compared to the amnion as well as the chorion layer. It's also a layer where there's a lot of vascular endothelial cells because of the vasculature being within this layer of the placenta.

So it gives an added punch when it comes to those growth factors and allowing it to adhere to tissues better for good healing. The other thing that the trophoblastic layer does is provide some added strength. So the handling of the product is very good, so that when it mixes in with blood and or saline or fluid, it's able to keep its structure and not shrivel up like some allografts tend to do. Matrion is made by a company called LifeNet Health, which is based out of Virginia Beach, Virginia. The great thing about LifeNet Health is they are the largest procurer of human tissue and organs within the United States. Therefore, a lot of the products that many physicians may be using within the hospital setting such as tendon, bone, as well as human skin allografts is made from LifeNet Health. So that adds towards its accountability when it comes to products within the United States as well as around the world.

I've been using Matrion for probably about the past year and a half to two years. The thing about Matrion is that it's indicated for diabetic foot ulcers, traumatic ulcers, venous ulcers, surgical dehiscence, as well as burns. It comes in many sizes, anywhere from a two-centimeter disc up to an eight by eight centimeter graft. The thing about Matrion also is that it can be kept on a shelf, so the lifespan of the graft can be for a couple of years. It can be applied many times such as other allografts, so up to eight applications. When it comes to providing a patient the best opportunity to heal, it can do that. Plus from a reimbursement standpoint, I think that many physicians would feel comfortable about its use with that. It does impact a high price tag upon its use as well. So whether it's in the office setting or whether it was in a hospital setting, you are definitely able to get the product and I feel as though that you have some good results with it.

Another unique thing when it comes to Matrion is that it has this notch that's on the upper right-hand corner. This allows you to know that the trophoblastic layer, which is the layer you want to have up against the wound is actually there. So whenever applying it, and then it mixes in with the patients own blood after debridement versus hydrating the graft with some saline, as long as the notches in the upper right hand corner, you'll know that the graft is being applied the way that it's supposed to be.

Okay. Another thing that I want to share about Matrion is that there's many grafts that are out there. We know of many single-layer, bi-layer grafts, but the thing about Matrion that made me veer towards using them mostly is that the rate of healing with the graft based upon that tri-layer, meaning that trophoblastic layer, that added layer with the chorion. I had a patient, diabetic. He was about in his mid-60s and he just recently moved to the Northern Virginia area. Unfortunately, when he was within his previous state, he was dealing with gangrene. He had to get a bypass, fem-pop bypass done to his left lower extremity because of gangrene to his fourth and fifth toes. Once he moved to the area, he was living with his son and his son brought him over to see me. He was just doing local wound care of Vaseline or Neosporin, just something to apply to the wound site.

The patient was very frustrating. He wanted to get the area healed up. In discussion with him about everything that he's done previously, I gave him the choice of using an allograft such as amniotic tissue and with Matrion. Upon applying the graft to the patient, we did three applications that were about two weeks apart from each other and we were able to get the patient to heal up within a seven to eight-week span of time. This brought a lot of joy to the family, but also to myself and knowing that, okay, this product really does what it's supposed to do. He was one of my first patients that I used the product on. Since then, Matrion has been one of my main products that I've had within my armamentarium for treating patients within the office setting, as well as patients that I've encountered within the hospital setting. If you run across Matrion from a local rep or if you just investigated online about other products that would be innovative for your practice, Matrion would be a great product for you to use.