Journal of the mechanical behavior of biomedical materials
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J Mech Behav Biomed Mater · Jul 2013
Characterisation of clinical and newly fabricated meshes for pelvic organ prolapse repair.
Clinical meshes used in pelvic organ prolapse (POP) repair are predominantly manufactured from monofilament polypropylene (PP). Complications from the use of these meshes in transvaginal kits, including mesh exposure and pain, have prompted two public health notifications by the FDA. The aim of this study was to compare several clinical PP POP meshes to new fabricated POP meshes, knitted from alternative polymers, for their mechanical properties using standard and clinically relevant multi-axial testing methods. ⋯ Within the new mesh prototypes, the PA meshes, either uncoated (4.7-5.7 μN m) or with gelatin coating (16.7 μN m) possessed lower bending rigidity than both Polyform and Gynemesh (46.2 μN m and 36.4 μN m, respectively). The new fabricated mesh designs were of similar architecture, but with some improved mechanical properties, compared to clinical POP meshes. Multi-axial analysis of new and clinical mesh designs provides greater discriminatory power in analysing mesh mechanical properties for clinical applications.