title: Carbon-fibre versus Marlex mesh in the repair of experimental abdominal wall defects in rats.
abstract: Large abdominal wall defects were created in Porton-Wistar rats and either left unrepaired (9 rats), or repaired with polypropylene (Marlex) mesh (11 rats), or with an open darn of filamentous carbon (11 rats). A further ten animals had a simple midline skin incision. At 5 months there were gross hernias in the unrepaired animals. Neither repair had resulted in gross recurrence although four of the carbon-repaired animals had bulges through the open weave. Tensiometry of the excised abdominal wall showed no difference in the strength of the two repairs. However, microscopy showed a striking difference-the Marlex had induced a chronic inflammatory response with disorganized collagen, whereas the carbon was not only well-tolerated but acted as a scaffold for well-organized and orientated collagen.
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Cameron
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Taylor
mesh_terms: D000009:Abdominal Muscles / Q000601:surgery*; D000818:Animals; D002244:Carbon; D000077482:Carbon Fiber; D011095:Polyethylenes; D011126:Polypropylenes; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013526:Surgical Mesh; D013718:Tensile Strength
chemical_list: D000077482:Carbon Fiber; C016674:Plastipore; D011095:Polyethylenes; D011126:Polypropylenes; D002244:Carbon