​Preventing hernia after abdominal surgery – New use for the world’s first resorbable synthetic surgical mesh

Having invented and developed the world’s first long-term resorbable synthetic surgical mesh, Novus Scientific has already made great contributions to decreasing individual suffering and lowering hospital costs around the world. Now the company is about to put its unique medical device to new use in order to prevent hernia after abdominal surgery.

Apart from establishing contact with the investors and clinical experts needed to finance and conduct a study on the new use of the mesh, at Nordic Life Science Days company CEO Stefan Sowa will be looking for expertise to help him evaluate the new application in terms of patient health and hospital savings.

“According to the Swedish colon cancer register, on average three to five percent of the 100,000 patients who are operated on each year develop incisional hernia,” he says. “This figure is three to four times higher for risk patients such as smokers or those suffering from obesity. Just by targeting these patients, we could save our hospitals 55 million SEK per year, while at the same time avoiding unnecessary pain and suffering.”

New use for an established product

Today the mesh, called TIGR® Matrix, is used in a range of surgical applications, such as abdominal wall reconstruction, breast reconstruction after cancer, and cosmetic breast surgery. However, as the product has the potential to be used anywhere in the body where tissue support is needed, Stefan Sowa believes adapting it for preventive use would be a relatively straightforward matter.

“Having manufactured and sold the device for seven years without any severe complications being reported, we are certain that using the mesh in closing the midline incision after an operation is a very efficient way to reduce the risk of incisional hernias,” he says. “But we have to conduct a clinical study to show it.”

The world’s first fully synthetic slowly degradable mesh

Originating in a desire to create a solution that was better than the biological and permanent meshes in use at the time, Novus Scientific set out nearly twenty years ago to find a material that would promote the regeneration of functional tissue in a predictable way, and disappear once the healing process was complete. Based on research on degradable plastic taking place at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm in the 70s and 80s, in 2004 the company was able to produce a material with the properties they were looking for. Add six years of development, and the world’s first fully synthetic slowly degradable mesh was born.

However, despite the many advantages of TIGR® Matrix, it has taken some time for the product to reach patients.

“Changing attitudes takes time,” Stefan Sowa says. “The old meshes are still around today, even though they are more unpredictable, can cause chronic inflammation, and even be rejected by the body. But we are moving in the right direction. When TIGR® Matrix first came out, doctors didn’t believe us when we told them a surgical mesh didn’t always have to be permanent. These days they talk very naturally about resorbable polymers, and they fully understand the many advantages of using our product.”

Growing interest and global potential

Stefan Sowa hopes the growing interest in TIGR® Matrix will help speed up the introduction of their planned new application.

“Once people get used to the idea, they will realise the enormous impact an innovation such as ours can have,” he says. “For instance, only in terms of preventing incisional hernia, it could benefit some 5,000,000 people in the industrialised world – every year.”

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