Biomechanical characterization of diaphragmatic hernia repair with FE modelling

The diaphragm is a mammalian skeletal muscle that plays a fundamental role in the process of respiration. Congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) compromises the respiratory functions, hence the need of surgical intervention to repair the defect and restore the physiological conditions. This study aims to characterize, the differences in the mechanical behaviour between mouse healthy diaphragm and surgically repaired diaphragm, through numerical modelling. In the finite element analysis (FEA) the mechanical response was featured with an isotropic hyperelastic model for the tendon and the polymeric implant, while for the muscular tissue a three- element Hill’ s model was adopted to characterize fibres behaviour. FEA is useful to simulate the diaphragm contraction in eupnea condition in order to evaluate the deformation differences between the two conditions (i.e. healthy and repaired). The polymeric implant reduces the diaphragm excursion compared to the healthy condition and this explains the compromised mechanical functionality of the surgical repaired muscle.