In Vitro Leakage Testing of Tissue Containment Bags When Subjected to Power Morcellation Forces

To determine the ability of tissue containment systems to prevent leakage of cancer cell surrogates when subjected to forces encountered during power morcellation procedures.

In vitro study.

Medical device research laboratory.

Samples from 7 different legally marketed tissue containment bags (1 of which is indicated for power morcellation) were subjected to dye and bacteriophage penetration tests at pressures ranging from 0.5 to 50 times the insufflation pressure. The minimum pressure required to cause bag leakage was measured. Subsequently, the morcellation leakage safety factor for each bag was determined as the ratio of the minimum leakage pressure of the bag to the total pressure contributed from insufflation pressure and mechanical forces acting during the power morcellation procedure.

The leakage performance of the bags varied markedly from brand to brand. No correlation was found between leakage pressure and the bag material or the total bag thickness. The leakage pressures ranged from 26 mmHg to >1293 mmHg for the 7 bags, and safety factors ranged from 1 to 50 when only the insufflation pressure was considered. However, if the morcellation forces were included in the calculation, the safety factor dropped by 6-fold for all brands and dropped below 1, indicating likelihood of leakage, for 2 of the 7 brands.

This study provides a mechanism for more realistically simulating the conditions experienced by containment bags during morcellation and quantifying the level of safety provided by the bags.