Biologic Prosthetic Materials for Hernia Repair: Human
Human tissue prosthetics have found a use in the setting of a contaminated or infected abdominal wall. Although they are approved by the FDA for use in inguinal hernia repair they are rarely used, except in contaminated fields, do to their lack of strength of the repair. Use of a sterilized human tissue prosthetic carries the risk of human disease transmission, although no reports of this exist. Human tissue prosthestics are listed below:
AlloDerm – manufactured by LifeCell, widely used hand harvested human dermis, processed by complete removal of all cellular tissue and freeze drying of the dermis without end gas sterilization to avoid structural degradation. The product is refrigerated and needs to be rehydrated prior to use.
FlexHD – manufactured by Musculoskeletal Tissue Foundation, human dermis with the cells removed, has long storage time, no preparation required before it is placed in the patient.
Bard AlloMax Surgical Graft – Davol, Inc., Sterilized using low dose gamma radiation, proprietary process used to remove cells and pathogens.
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