Use of absorbable implants is commonplace in surgery, yet for obvious reasons the fate of those implants is less well characterised than it might be. Companies have been known to use the word “absorbable” to describe materials that are self evidently still around five years later. It’s arguable whether this matters or not, but what clearly is important is the impact of the material and its breakdown products on the tissues around it. In this piece of work Tissuemed brings together a set of typical histological specimens from implants made over a clinically relevant time period and demonstrates just how minimal the reaction to its Tissuepatch products is. Entitled “the Fate of TissuePatch” the histology shows a clear and typical pattern, with a short term inflammatory response followed by ongoing and ever decreasing macrophage activity around the implanted material. This low level of foreign body response is reassuring for the user and encourages the company that its ultra fine bioadhesive sealant films may have indications in many tissue types.
