Biological meshes: A review of their use in abdominal wall hernia repairs

PurposeBiological meshes are mostly used in infected fields within complex abdominal wall hernia repairs. There is no consensus, however, on the most appropriate material to be used in a given situation.MethodsA literature review of published articles reporting the utilization of biological meshes in ventral/incisional hernia repair was conducted. Data were analyzed to compare the recurrence rates obtained with biological meshes.Main findingsOnly a few prospective comparative studies were identified. Most publications relate to AlloDerm®, Permacol™ and Surgisis™ with data from other meshes insufficient to draw conclusions. AlloDerm has a 0–100% recurrence rate among studies. It compares poorly with Surgisis and results in an unfavorable outcome when used as a ‘bridge prosthesis’. Permacol has consistent recurrence rates of 0–15%, whatever the patients' profiles or the context of infected fields, when considering the most relevant studies. The Surgisis results are more conflicting: the mesh exhibits low recurrence rates in clean fields, but in infected fields the recurrence rate is up to 39%.ConclusionTaken together, these studies suggest that the cross-linked mesh, Permacol has the lowest failure rate and the longest time to failure, particularly in contaminated or infected fields. However, this data should be confirmed by large prospective randomized studies.