Determination of the most effective method of plastic surgery of an infected hernia defect of the anterior abdominal wall in rats based on a comparison of morphological examination

Background. The question of which method of hernia repair is more effective in the context of an infected wound remains open. The main problem is the failure of the postoperative scar and, as a result, the recurrence of the disease. Therefore, it is important to determine which material is preferable to use in order to avoid such complications. Objective. To compare the parameters of the scar composition depending on the material used for hernioplasty and determine which of them is surgically more reasonable. Material and methods. The study was conducted on male Wistar rats, which underwent hernial defect modeling on the basis of the Department of Operative Surgery with Topographic Anatomy, the laboratory of the EBM Research Institute of the Voronezh State Medical University named after N.N. Burdenko, as well as in the laboratory of the Russian Railways-Medicine Clinical Hospital of Voronezh during from 2023 to 2024. 90 individuals were involved, randomly divided into 3 groups. The study lasted 180 days. On days 30 and 180, 15 animals were removed from the experiment with an overdose of anesthesia, and then a fragment of the postoperative scar was taken for histological examination. Results. Histological examination confirmed a different ratio of the structures of the constituent fibrillar extracellular matrix, depending on the material used in hernioplasty. According to the data on the 30th and 180th days of the experiment, the difference between the collagen content in the postoperative type 1 and type 3 scar after local tissue repair (control group) and the use of a graft was not statistically significant. Also, on day 180, the differences between the percentage of collagen and elastic fibers after hernioplasty with a polypropylene mesh and a graft do not seem significant. Conclusion. The formation of scar tissue is the final stage of regeneration, so its composition is crucial in choosing the hernioplasty method. According to the conducted research, it can be concluded that the use of a graft is the most appropriate among the materials used.