Preparation of PDO mesh and research on its fabrication parameters

Abstract

Using prosthesis to replace weaken tissues or fascia in pelvic is accepted by more people in present medicine field. PDO is also considered to be an ideal degradable material such as PP, which was the most popular used type in medical area. The paper prepared macro-porous structure PDO meshes using an armor plate model of square-pore structure and raw material of PDO monofilaments. Fabrication parameters including monofilament diameter, pore size, pore shape were discussed based on a suitable mechanical properties of PDO meshes. The optimal fabrication processes were obtained after then. The results revealed that PDO monofilaments of 0.23 mm diameter could make mesh to own moderate weight, thickness and tensile strength, as well as the largest suture pulling out force. Square-pore shape strengthened mesh tensile force, maintaining larger suture pulling out force especially compared to that of rhombus-pore shape. As for pore size, PDO mesh with 5 mm pores had larger strength, also satisfying requirement of mesh’s lightweight. In vitro degradation of PDO mesh was measured using 3 different diameter monofilaments. All samples were significantly degraded only after 10 weeks, with weight loss rate reaching to about 30% after 16 weeks. Finally, PDO mesh was assessed to have an obvious lightweight advantage, but low strength risk by comparison to several commercial mesh products.