Patent ID: 8585576

Claim:
A surgical implant adapted to be implanted in contact with body tissue, comprising an open pore elongated strip, the strip comprising an elongated strip of open pore mesh having two opposed mesh side edges, and formed of mesh strands arranged to define mesh pores adapted to enable tissue ingrowth therethrough, the elongated strip comprising edge extensions comprising strand ends extending from each of the two opposed mesh side edges, reinforcement comprising two elongated stiffening strands thermally bonded with the mesh strands to form two side edge stiffening bands, each of the two side edge stiffening bands being adjacent to strand ends of one of the two opposed mesh side edges, the reinforcement causing an increase in the force required to pull the strip through tissue, and a tensioning suture extending along a length of the elongated strip, wherein the elongated strip comprises: a central support portion, a first end portion extending from the central support portion and comprising the two opposed mesh side edges, the two elongated stiffening strands, and the tensioning suture extending along a length of the first end portion, and wherein the elongated strip further comprises a second end portion extending from the central support portion, the second end portion comprising two opposed mesh side edges and edge extensions comprising strand ends extending from each of the two opposed mesh side edges of the second end portion, and reinforcement comprising two elongated stiffening strands thermally bonded with the mesh strands to form two side edge stiffening bands on the second end portion, each of the two side edge stiffening bands being adjacent to strand ends of one of the two mesh side edges of the second end portion, the reinforcement of the second end portion causing an increase in the force required to pull the second end portion through tissue, and a tensioning suture extending along a length of the second end portion.