title: New measurements to compare soft tissue anchoring systems in pelvic floor surgery.
abstract: Suburethral slings as well as different meshes are widely used treating stress urinary incontinence and prolaps in women. With the development of MiniSlings and special meshes using less alloplastic material anchorage systems become more important to keep devices in place and to put some tension especially on the MiniSlings. To date, there are many different systems of MiniSlings of different companies on the market which differ in the structure of the used meshes and anchors. A new objective measurement method to compare different properties of MiniSling systems (mesh and anchor) is presented in this article. Ballistic gelatine acts as soft tissue surrogate. Significant differences in parameters like pull-out strength of anchors or shrinkage of meshes under loading conditions have been determined. The form and size of the anchors as well as the structural stability of the meshes are decisive for a proper integration. The tested anchorings sytems showed markedly different mechanical function at their respective load bearing capacity. As the stable fixation of the device in tissue is a prerequisite for a permanet reinforcement, the proposed test system permits further optimisation of anchor and mesh devices to improve the success of the surgical treatment.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Bioengineering, Aachen University of Applied Sciences, Jülich, Germany. m.staat@fh-aachen.de
authors.forename: Manfred
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Staat
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Trenz
authors.forename: Philipp
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lohmann
authors.forename: Ralf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Frotscher
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Klinge
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tabaza
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kirschner-Hermanns
mesh_terms: D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry; D004548:Elasticity; D005260:Female; D020342:Finite Element Analysis; D005780:Gelatin / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D008027:Light; D017773:Pelvic Floor / Q000601:surgery*; D010777:Photochemistry / Q000379:methods; D016012:Poisson Distribution; D011126:Polypropylenes / Q000737:chemistry; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D053825:Suburethral Slings; D013718:Tensile Strength; D014550:Urinary Incontinence, Stress / Q000601:surgery*; D013520:Urologic Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D016474:Weight-Bearing
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D011126:Polypropylenes; D005780:Gelatin