RECONSTRUCTION OF THE ABDOMINAL WALL DEFECTS USING GELATIN-COATED DECELLULARIZED AND LYOPHILIZED HUMAN AMNIOTIC MEMBRANE.

Ventral hernias, with the incidence of reherniation nearly as high as 50%, still remain to be a real challenge for surgeons worldwide. The use of mesh in the repair of abdominal wall defects reduces the incidence of reherniation; however, using a prosthetic mesh can lead to complications like wound infection, hematoma, seroma, enterocutaneous fistula, small bowel obstruction, recurrent herniation and erosion into adjacent structures including the intestine. The aim of the study was to develop a method for producing gelatin-coated decellularized and lyophilized human amniotic membrane graft and to determine its effectiveness for the reconstruction of the anterior abdominal wall defects. Experiments were conducted on 40 Lewis white laboratory rats. Animals were divided into four equivalent groups. Abdominal wall defects were created in all rats and repaired using the ULTRAPROTM mesh (group I), ULTRAPROTM mesh which was covered by decellularized and lyophilized human amniotic membrane from both sides (group II), mesh from gelatin-coated decellularized and lyophilized human amniotic membrane (group III) and biological surgical mesh XI-S+® (group IV). Three months after implantation, meshes from gelatin-coated decellularized and lyophilized human amniotic membrane were integrated with host tissues so that it was difficult to distinguish it from the surrounding tissues. However, in the second group, ULTRAPROTM mesh was still detectable through the decellularized amniotic membrane. Encouraging results were also observed when using a XI-S+® graft. Three months after implantation, XI-S+® graft was surrounded by a well-defined connective tissue capsule and was tightly fixed to the host tissues. While using gelatin-coated decellularized and lyophilized human amniotic membrane grafts and XI-S+® grafts, all the defects were repaired successfully and none of the rats in these groups showed any evidence of bulging or herniation, development of wound rupture, wound infection or fistula formation in postoperative period. Gelatin-coated Decellularized human amniotic membrane can be used as anti-adhesive barrier in abdominal and pelvic surgery, as well as for the repair of the abdominal wall hernia.