[Can we define "histological tolerance" of the abdominal wall after the implantation of various prosthetic materials?].

This experimental work is a comparative trial in the rat of 6 inert prostheses (3 permeable and 3 non-permeable) that are regularly used in man for the repair of large abdominal wall defects. This is performed in both aseptic and septic conditions. Serial macroscopic and bacteriological observations were done. Quantitative histological criteria were defined to characterize the resistance and biological tolerance to the material. This shows that: 1. the width of the cellular reaction, the number of giant, inflammatory, fibroblastic cells confirms the superiority of meshes whatever the implantation conditions; 2. the proportion of fibroblasts to inflammatory cells is a histological expression of the solidity of the repair and of the biological tolerance to the material (Acta chir. belg., 1977, 76, 575-582).