Interceed Barrier as a Pericardial Substitute – An Animal Experimental Result

Abstract

The risk in repeat operations resulting from postoperative adhesions is still a challenge to most cardiac surgeons. In attempt to reduce the pericardial adhesions, a lot of methods were tried in the past twenty years; however, the results were still unsatisfactory. In this paper, we tried to use Interceed barrier to minimize the adhesion and tissue reaction in animal experiments. The result was satisfactory. Gross appearance and pathological finding of the specimens revealed a mild to moderate adhesion between he pleura and Interceed barrier, and a minimal adhesion between he epicardium and Interceed barrier. Tissue reaction related to the insertion of Interceed barrier was rather minor, and was confirmed by microscopic examination. Besides that, Interceed barriers were completely absorbed within 4 weeks, which was a rather unique feature in comparison with other synthetic or xenogenous pericardial patches. From data demonstrated in this study, we concluded that Interceed barrier had at least 5 advantages: (1) Interceed barrier is an effective agent to prevent postoperative adhesions; (2) As a polymer composed of oxidized regenerated cellulose, Interceed barrier has no physiological adverse reaction or toxicity; (3) Because Interceed barrier can be completely absorbed within 4 weeks, no tissue reaction related to a foreign body occurs after that period; (4) The risk of infection associated with a foreign body is reduced; (5) The price of Interceed barrier is much lower than the price of other synthetic or xenogenous pericardial patches. Due to the merits mentioned above, we do recommend Interceed barrier to be the material of choice to attenuate pericardial adhesion, thus reducing the risk of dissection during reoperation.