Polypropylene is a widely used biomaterial for the treatment of ventral abdominal wall hernias. It exhibit pain, prominent inflammatory response and foreign body reaction. Polyester (Polyethylene terephthalate) is hydrophilic material works with body’s natural systems to improve tissue integration while reducing negative foreign material response. Polyester offers extremely lower pain intensity and less foreign body reaction.
The purpose of designated research was to compare the efficacy of polypropylene and polyester meshes for the treatment of abdominal defect. Both are non-absorbable meshes. Polypropylene mesh is available in Pakistan with the trade name of Prolene® (Ethicon,Johnson & Johnson, USA). Polyester mesh is not available inPakistan and was acquired from Al Zahrawi Medical, a local healthcare company in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Polyester mesh is available with brandname of (Parietex®, Covidien, France).
The experimental study was conducted on 16 (sixteen) healthy pigeons presented for massive abdominal defect repair. All birds were thoroughly examined to rule out any other anomaly before study. The birds were allocated into two different groups, viz. Group A and Group B with 8 birds in each group respectively. All treatments were administered intramuscularly using 1 ml insulin syringe. The Polypropylene mesh (Prolene®, Ethicon) was used for the treatment of abdominal repair for group A. The birds of group B was treated with Polyester mesh (Parietex®, Covidien). Ventral abdominal wall repair was performed in both groups using Polypropylene and Polyester mesh respectively. The surgery was performed at Surgery Section, Department of CMS, UVAS, Lahore for 3 months duration (including adaptation and postoperative period). Both meshes were compared on the basis of postoperative complications (wound healing, pain evaluation, hematoma, seroma and abscess formation), inflammatory responses and adhesion formation after application of mesh fixation.
During experiment, it was observed that polypropylene mesh resulted in a prominent pain sensation, persistent inflammatory reaction, proliferating fibroblast, more granulating tissue, macrophages appearance, increased connective tissue thickness and proliferating collagen fibre. It was observed that Polyester mesh resulted in less pain sensation, no foreign body reaction, no neutrophil appearance and rare granulating tissue. Polyester mesh showed remarkable advantages over polypropylene mesh in terms lower pain level, reduced size seroma and extremely less scar tissue formation.
Based upon all the findings it was concluded that polyester mesh is safer and more effective in terms of post-operative complications and outcomes.