An experimental comparison of the effects of bacterial colonization on biologic and synthetic meshes

Purpose Biologic meshes are being used with increasing frequency to repair contaminated abdominal wall defects despite high long-term recurrence and infection rates associated with their use. Recent clinical reports describing the success of lightweight, macroporous synthetic meshes in contaminated ventral hernia repairs have led some surgeons to challenge the belief that synthetics are contraindicated in contaminated fields. We aimed to determine whether a frequently used biologic mesh (StratticeTM) is more resistant to bacterial colonization than macroporous synthetic mesh (ParietexTM ProgripTM) after inoculation with two common pathogens.