A PRELIMINARY-REPORT ON THE USE OF RELON MESH IN THE REPAIR OF EVENTRATIONS WITH LARGE PARIETAL DEFECTS - AN EXPERIMENTAL-STUDY IN RATS

This experimental study in rats was designed to investigate the tolera bility and the mode of healing when commercial relon mesh is used in t he repair of large abdominal-wall defects. A defect was created to sim ulate anatomical derangement of the abdominal wall and a surgical corr ection was performed using relon mesh. The mesh was implanted intraper itoneally in 18 Wistar albino rats. The animals were killed under anae sthesia 4, 6, 8, 12, 15 or 30 days later and the intra-abdominal visce ra were examined macroscopically for adhesions and other evidence of i nflammatory reactions. Skin healing usually occurred within 7 - 8 days of surgery. Microscopic studies were used to confirm the gross findin gs and showed that maturation of granulation tissue, fibrocyte invasio n with encapsulation of the mesh and the appearance of newly formed ve ssels occurred 2 weeks after surgery. Within 4 weeks a strong layer of connective tissue was present. The relon mesh was tolerated well. The se results indicate that the use of relon mesh may provide a cheap alt ernative means of repairing large abdominal-wall defects.