Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Shark's skin for 'terrorist'

DOCTORS are to use skin made from SHARKS to treat the terror suspect horrifically burned in the Glasgow Airport attack.

Surgeons struggling to save Kafeel Ahmed, 27, have turned to a revolutionary treatment.

The expensive process involves a skin substitute made from shark cartilage and cow tendons. A source said: “Ahmed is being treated with these grafts because there is nothing left on his body that can be used.”

The Glasgow Royal Infirmary insider added: “He is receiving the latest technology to try to heal the skin — but there is still little hope of him surviving.

“In the past, pig skin was used to treat severe burns, but the shark skin treatment is used now.”

The process — a system called Integra Dermal Regeneration Template which costs more than £20,000 — involves doctors placing silicone implants with shark skin extracts on to the burns.

After two weeks, the outer protective silicone layer is removed and replaced with a layer of skin thinner than a graft.

A chemical in the shark skin prevents a scar from forming and allows the body to produce a skin-like tissue.

Surgeon Steve Jeffrey, who spent nine months in Australia perfecting the treatment, explained: “It tricks the body into creating new skin cells.”

Sources at the Royal Infirmary, where Ahmed is under armed guard, say he is in a coma. One said: “This person is effectively dead already.”

It is alleged Ahmed and Iraqi doctor Bilal Abdullah, 27, drove the flaming Jeep Cherokee into Glasgow Airport.

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