Affinity of Staphylococcus epidermidis to various prosthetic graft materials

Abdominal wall hernias have always been a major problem for general surgeons. The techniques of repairing primary, recurrent, and incisional hernias have evolved throughout the years at an accelerating trend, especially after production of prosthetic graft materials. Although looked upon with suspicion due to infection, fistula formation, and foreign body reaction, prosthetic graft materials are used deliberately in primary and recurrent hernias. The present study was designed to evaluate bacterial adherence to frequently used prosthetic graft materials.

The study was carried out in five different groups with each group consisting of 10 identical samples of the same kind of prosthetic graft material. The prosthetic graft materials used in the study were polypropylene, polyglactin 910, polyester fibers, steel, and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). These prosthetic graft materials were incubated in vitro with a Staphylococcus epidermidis strain which was ++++ adhesion positive. The degree of adhesion of S. epidermidis to prosthetic graft materials was assessed by the ELISA method.

Vicryl grafts showed significantly minimal bacterial adhesion whereas PTFE grafts tended to have more adhesion but this did not reach a statistical significance. Other graft materials did not show any difference for bacterial adhesion (Table 3).

These results suggest that in vitro S. epidermidis adhesion to Vicryl grafts is less than other types of prosthetic graft materials (P < 0.05 for all comparisons). Further in vitro and in vivo studies are required to confirm these results and to understand the complex interactions among bacteria, graft material, microenvironment, and surgical technique.