Exploring the Influence of the Knitted Structure Morphology on Synthetic Surgical Mesh Behaviour

Abstract Despite the wide variety of knitting patterns present in the global market for synthetic meshes, the influence of mesh morphology on the mechanical behaviour of these devices is not yet clear. The goal of this project is to determine how the mechanical properties of monofilament polypropylene warp-knitted meshes are influenced by their morphological characteristics. Multivariate linear regression models were developed using nine meshes to quantify a correlation between these two crucial aspects. Additionally, porous mesoscale Finite Element (FE) models were implemented in Abaqus to replicate in vitro tests conducted in a previous study. High values of the determination coefficient were obtained for all the models and their robustness was confirmed by good performance in a leave one out validation method. The porous FE models successfully replicated the multidirectional behaviour of the meshes after the calibration of the elastic modulus based on the uniaxial tensile test. This combined approach demonstrates valuable results paving the way for advancements in hernia treatment and meshes design.