assistant professor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. "It's
treated less like a solid foreign body and more like a lattice work that
the body scars over. The mesh gets incorporated and won't get infect-
ed or cause irritation."
• Weight (density). Measured in grams per meter squared, "Density
ultimately is reliant on the size of the pore — if you have a smaller
pore size, you have more fibers woven in, so you have a higher densi-
ty," says Dr. Blatnik.
"In general, we tend to prefer a larger pore size, but a lower-weight
mesh, which tends to have a little more compliance and be a little
more comfortable for the patient," says Dr. Mazer. "It's less likely the
patient will have any sensation of the mesh. That being said, there
have been meshes in the past that have been too lightweight and had a
tendency to tear. It's a
balancing act. A mate-
rial like polypropylene
has the tensile
strength, especially in
bigger ventral her-
nias."
• Barriers.
Different meshes
have different barri-
ers or coatings that
can be made of bio-
logic or chemical
materials. The pur-
pose of the coatings
is to reduce adhe-
sions. "The choice
9 4 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 9
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