TENSIOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF MESHES USED IN ABDOMINAL VENTRAL WALL DEFECTS IN RATS 

Background:

Among the various strategies to avoid exaggerated foreign body reaction in the treatment of hernias is the limitation of the amount of polypropylene or the use of absorbable material.

Aim:

To evaluate the healing of defects in the abdominal wall of rats, comparing microporous polypropylene, macroporous polypropylene and polypropylene/polyglecaprone at the 30º, 60º and 120º postoperative day.

Methods:

Wistar rats were submitted to defect production in the ventral abdominal wall, with integrity of the parietal peritoneum. Prolene^®, Ultrapro^® and Bard Soft^® meshes were used in the correction of the defect. Nine subgroups of 10 animals were submitted to euthanasia at 30^th, 60^th and 120^th postoperative day. Fragments of the abdominal wall of the animals were submitted to tensiometric analysis.

Results:

The tensiometry at the 30^th postoperative day showed greater resistance of the tissues with Bard Soft^® (macroporous mesh) in relation to the tissues with Prolene^® (microporous mesh). On the 60^th postoperative day Bard Soft^® maintained the superior resistance to the tissues comparing to Prolene Mesh®. On the 120^th postoperative day the tissues repaired with Ultrapro^® (macroporous mesh) proved to be more resistant than the ones by Prolene^® (microporous mesh) and Bard Soft^® (macroporous mesh).

Conclusion:

The tissues repaired with macroporous meshes showed greater resistance than with microporous meshes at all stages, and at 120 days postoperative Ultrapro® performed better than the others.