Abdominal wall hernia repair : intraperitoneal mesh and adhesions

One in five patients develops an incisional hernia after having undergone abdominal surgery. Such hernias are abdominal muscle defects allowing intestines to protrude. Hernia repair is performed by placing synthetic woven meshes.
Adhesions are being formed between intestine and mesh in reaction to the placement of intraperitoneal meshes. These adhesions can lead to serious problems which are underestimated by surgeons. Experiments showed that mesh coatings can largely prevent this problem. Furthermore, three pills taken prior to surgery could halve the number of adhesions formed between intestine and mesh. Finally, a patient model was developed to further confirm our results.