A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY OF THE USE OF BOVINE PERICARDIUM, DURA-MATER, AND POLYPROPYLENE MESH AS REINFORCEMENT MATERIALS IN ABDOMINAL AND THORACIC WALL RECONSTRUCTION

This retrospective study reviews the postoperative history of 64 patie nts who underwent a total of 74 surgical procedures for the resection of malignant tumors and reconstruction of the abdominal and/or thoraci c walls, All resections involved extensive loss of the supporting tiss ues of these walls, Bovine pericardium was used as the reinforcement m aterial in 33 procedures, allogeneic dura mater in 26, and polypropyle ne mesh (Marlex (R)) in 15, Postoperative complications occurred in 31 of the 74 procedures, In the bovine pericardium group, 13 (39%) of 33 cases had complications; in the dura mater group, 12 (46%) of 26 had complications; and in the polypropylene mesh group, 6 (40%) of 15 had complications, In many of the procedures in which complications occurr ed, however, there were preexisting risk factors, Excluding procedures complicated by previous risk, the rates of postoperative complication s were as follows: 20% (2/10) with bovine pericardium, 54% (7/13) with dura mater, and 14% (1/7) with polypropylene mesh.