Abstract:

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the application of biomaterial patch in pelvic floor reconstruction process in recent years, and to investigate the application significance of polypropylene mesh in female pelvic floor reconstruction.
METHODS: Using “polypropylene, biological patch, patch material, pelvic floor reconstruction, rehabilitation” in Chinese and “polypropylene; biological repain plate; patch; pelvic reconstructive” in English as the key words, a computer search was performed for articles from January 2005 to May 2010. Articles related to the application of the biological patch and polypropylene mesh in female pelvic floor reconstruction were included; repeated study or Meta analysis articles were excluded. Thirty articles mainly focused on improving the material properties of polypropylene patch and the importance in pelvic floor repair process.
RESULTS: With the developing understanding on the anatomy of pelvic floor, new theories continuously put forward, as well as surgical instruments and repair materials are improving, pelvic floor reconstruction is progressively developing. In all types of implants, autologous tissue, allografts, xenografts are vulnerable to infection or wear after implantation, therefore they are not suitable as a reconstruction material. The synthetic absorbable patch is solid and convenient, but may also appear infection, rejection and erosion.
CONCLUSION: It is simple and well tolerated in patients to apply polypropylene mesh in pelvic floor reconstruction, which exhibits the lower relapse rate, better compatibility with the host among various patch materials, thus the most widely used. However, whether polypropylene mesh is the best patch material, and long-term effects are the best all deserve long-term follow-up observations and large-scale prospective case-control study.