Research Article

Characterization of the Mechanical Strength, Resorption Properties, and Histologic Characteristics of a Fully Absorbable Material (Poly-4-hydroxybutyrate—PHASIX Mesh) in a Porcine Model of Hernia Repair

Table 2

Histology scores where 0 = absent/no response, 1 = minimal/barely detectable, 2 = mild/slightly detectable, 3 = moderate/easily detectable, and 4 = marked/very evident for inflammation, macrophages, giant cells, fibrosis/encapsulation, and granulation/vascularization and where 1 = predominantly green (type III collagen), 2 = mixture of green, yellow, and yellow-orange (mixture of type III and type I collagen), and 3 = predominantly red-orange (type I collagen) for collagen morphology.

Histology scores6 weeks12 weeks26 weeks52 weeks
Mean ± SEMMedianMean ± SEMMedianMean ± SEMmedianMean ± SEMMedian

InflammationPHASIX Mesh 2.0 3.0 2.0 2.0
P4HB
Plug
3.0 2.0 2.0 2.0

MacrophagesPHASIX Mesh 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
P4HB
Plug
3.0 1.0 2.0 1.0

Giant cellsPHASIX Mesh 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
P4HB
Plug
1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0

Fibrosis/
encapsulation
PHASIX Mesh 4.0 2.0 3.0 2.0
P4HB
Plug
3.0 3.0 2.0 3.0

Granulation/
vascularization
PHASIX Mesh 3.0 2.0 3.0 2.0
P4HB
Plug
2.0 2.0 3.0 3.0

Collagen morphologyPHASIX Mesh 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
P4HB
Plug
1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0