Figure 1.

Schematic showing the hypothesized mechanism of resorption of HADM grafts in ventral hernia repair. We hypothesize that infiltration of cells (red dots) from the pro-inflammatory intraperitoneal environment during the first four postoperative weeks results in premature graft resorption and repair failure. A degradable THA coating on the graft would serve as a temporary barrier to inflammatory cells and mitigate premature graft resorption. Following degradation of the coating after 1–4 weeks, infiltration of pro-remodeling cells (green dots) would allow constructive graft remodeling leading to a durable repair. The objective of this study (represented by dashed box) was to develop biodegradable THA coatings for HADM grafts, with the goal of identifying THA coating formulations that largely resorb during 4 weeks after intraperitoneal implantation, in order to allow future investigations into relationships between cellular infiltration and biologic graft durability.