Perspectives of silicone elastomere implants use in preventing postoperative complications in pelvic exenteration for advanced cancers

Abstract

In this work, silicone elastomer films with potential to be used as implantable pelvic prosthesis were prepared and their bioactivity was studied both in vitro and in vivo environment. Tensile tests, hardness measurement and compression analysis revealed no significant decrease of the mechanical performance after in vitro hydrolytic degradation in simulated body fluids. The in vivo biocompatibility of films was assessed by implanting them subcutaneously in swine model, for 30 days. Their mechanical characteristics were similar to those of samples immersed in simulated body fluids, for the same time interval. No sign of fibrosis or necrosis were detected from the histological analysis performed on the tissue surrounding the films. In combination, these results indicate that this material has a very good resistance to mechanical and chemical fatigue, do not release any toxic degradation products and, therefore, has great potential as to be used further for preparation of pelvic prosthesis.