Adhesion prevention in ventral hernia repair: an experimental study comparing three lightweight porous meshes recommended for intraperitoneal use.

BACKGROUND: In ventral hernia repair, when prosthetic material is placed intraperitoneally, it may lead to an inflammatory reaction resulting in adhesions between the mesh and abdominal viscera. Several meshes have been developed to minimize this process. In this experimental study, the ability of different combined meshes to attenuate the adhesion formation was examined. METHODS: Three commercially available lightweight porous combined meshes were placed intraperitoneally to repair an abdominal wall defect in rats: DynaMesh-IPOM (PVDF + PP), TiMesh (titanium-coated filament PP) and C-QUR/FX (omega-3 fatty acid-coated filament PP). The DynaMesh-CICAT (PVDF) was implanted in the control group. Adhesion formation was macroscopically evaluated and scored after 7 and 21 days. RESULTS: All animals except two presented intra-abdominal adhesions. None of the meshes examined in the study demonstrated to prevent adhesions. C-QUR/FX reduced adhesion formation at 7 days' follow-up compared with all other meshes but by 21 days this effect was diminished. Between 7 and 21 days adhesion extension significantly decreased for TiMesh. TAS did not show significant modifications between 7 and 21 days' follow-up for each mesh. CONCLUSIONS: The combined porous meshes tested in the present study demonstrated to reduce but not to prevent the adhesion formation, even if with some differences. Combined porous meshes could be chosen instead of simple meshes for retro-rectus preperitoneal prosthetic ventral hernia repair.