A Bioinspired Defect-Tolerant Hydrogel Medical Patch for Abdominal Wall Defect Repair.

Abstract

Point-wise suturing is the standard method for ensuring that patches effectively perform mechanically supportive functions in tissue repair. However, stress concentrations around suture holes can compromise the mechanical stability of patches. In this study, we develop a suturable hydrogel patch with flaw-tolerance capabilities by leveraging multiscale stress deconcentration, inspired by natural silk. This design mitigates stress concentration across two scales through the synergistic integration of nanoscale high-energy crystalline domains and intermolecular interactions. The resulting integral hydrogel patch exhibits superior flaw resistance compared to conventional patches and effectively addresses tissue adhesion issues. To validate the efficacy of the patch, we demonstrate successful <i>in vivo</i> repair of abdominal wall defects in rats, comparing the performance of the proposed patch to commercial mesh patches (Prolene). The integral patch design strategy present here offers a valuable approach for developing patches that can be tailored to meet the mechanical support needs of various tissue repair applications.