Characterization of morphologic and mechanical properties of surgical mesh fabrics

The objective of this study is to use standard testing methods to characterize the currently available synthetic mesh fabrics in terms of their chemical, physical, mechanical, and morphologic properties. Three commonly used surgical mesh fabrics, Mersilene (Ethicon), Marlex (Davol), and Teflon (USCI), were used, and the tests reveal that they differ from one another chemically as well as configurationally. The experiment included an identification of the structure of the yarn and fabrics; a measurement of the porosity, pore size and shape; and a determination of tensile and bursting strength, flexural rigidity, and wrinkle recovery. A wide variation in structure and performance was observed among the three mesh fabrics. Mersilene mesh fabrics have the highest relative porosity, while Marlex and Teflon meshes have an equivalent, but lower value. Marlex meshes have the highest tensile and bursting strength followed by Teflon and Mersilene meshes. All three meshes have one common strength characteristic--a distinctive difference in tensile strength between the wale and course directions. Marlex mesh fabrics exhibit an immense flexural rigidity and poor wrinkle recovery, due mainly to the monofilament structure of the yarn. Mersilene and Teflon mesh fabrics have similar but considerably lower, flexural rigidity than Marlex. Thus, it is evident that the chemical nature of the constituent fibers, as well as the yarn and fabric structure, have a great effect on the performance of the resulting mesh fabrics. The availability of this characterization data can serve as the basis for a surgeon's selection of the most appropriate commercial surgical mesh fabric for each case, as well as to provide a foundation for the subsequent comparison of their in vivo performance.