Accelerated in vitro oxidative degradation testing of polypropylene surgical mesh

(Top) Schematic of the automated reactive accelerated aging (aRAA) system. (Bottom Left) Oxidation kinetics of 4 surgical mesh evaluated using FTIR. (Bottom Right) Representative SEM image of a 3-week aRAA aged surgical mesh sample. AbstractPolypropylene (PP) surgical mesh had reasonable success in repair of hernia and treatment of stress urinary incontinence (SUI); however, their use for the repair of pelvic organ prolapse (POP) resulted in highly variable results with lifelong complications in some patients. One of several factors that could be associated with mesh-related POP complications is changes in the properties of the implanted surgical mesh due to oxidative degradation of PP in vivo. Currently, there are no standardized in vitro bench testing methods available for assessing the susceptibility to oxidative degradation and estimating long-term in vivo stability of surgical mesh. In this work, we adapted a previously reported automated reactive accelerated aging (aRAA) system, which uses elevated temperatures and high concentrations of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), for accelerated bench-top oxidative degradation testing of PP surgical mesh. Since H2O2 is highly unstable at elevated temperatures and for prolonged periods, the aRAA system involves a feedback loop based on electrochemical detection methods to maintain consistent H2O2 concentration in test solutions. Four PP mesh samples with varying mesh knit designs, filament diameter, weight, and % porosity, were selected ...
Source: Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part B: Applied Biomaterials - Category: Materials Science Authors: Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research