PREVENTION OF ADHESIONS AFTER LAMINECTOMY - AN EXPERIMENTAL-STUDY IN DOGS

An experimental study was designed to compare the efficacy of Vicryl mesh and autogenous fat in minimizing postoperative epidural scar formation. Three-level noncontiguous laminectomies were performed on ten adult dogs. Exposed dura at the three levels was covered with (1) nothing (control group), (2) fat, and (3) Vicryl mesh. Animals were sacrificed 6 and 12 weeks postoperatively and the specimens were examined histologically. Compared with the use of free fat grafts after laminectomy in dogs, Vicryl mesh produced slightly more scarring, but consistently less than observed in controls. Although no surgical zone treated with Vicryl mesh exhibited evidence of neural compression, one of the ten fat-grafted zones showed gross evidence of neural compression. These findings indicate that the use of Vicryl mesh at laminectomy sites may be an alternative method of minimizing postoperative epidural scar formation.