Affinity of Staphylococcus epidermidis to various prosthetic graft materials

Background. Abdominal wall hernias have always been a major problem for gen eral surgeons. The techniques of repairing primacy, recurrent, and incision al hernias have evolved throughout the years at an accelerating trend, espe cially after production of prosthetic graft materials. Although looked upon with suspicion due to infection, fistula formation, and foreign body react ion, prosthetic graft materials are used deliberately in primary and recurr ent hernias. The present study was,designed to evaluate bacterial adherence to frequently used prosthetic graft materials. Materials and methods. The study was carried out in five different groups w ith each group consisting of 10 identical samples of the same kind of prost hetic graft material. The prosthetic graft materials used in the study were polypropylene, polyglactin 910, polyester fibers, steel, and polytetrafluo roethylene (PTFE). These prosthetic graft materials were incubated in vitro with a Staphylococcus epidermidis strain which was ++++ adhesion positive. The degree of adhesion of S. epidermidis to prosthetic graft materials was assessed by the ELISA. method. Results. Vicryl grafts showed significantly minimal bacterial adhesion wher eas PTFE grafts tended to have more adhesion but this did not reach a stati stical significance. Other graft materials did not show any difference for bacterial adhesion (Table 3). Conclusion. These results suggest that in vitro S. epidermidis adhesion to Vicryl grafts is less than other types of prosthetic graft materials (P < 0 .05 for all comparisons). Further in vitro and in vivo studies are required to confirm these results and to understand the complex interactions among bacteria, graft material, microenvironment, and surgical technique. <(c)> 2 001 Academic press.