Patent ID: 7582576

Claim:
Soft and flexible surgical soft tissue mesh comprising polyethylene yarns, wherein the polyethylene yarns (i) have a tensile strength of more than 1.0 GPa, determined as specified in ASTM D885M using a nominal gauge length of a fiber of 500 mm and a crosshead speed of 50%/min, and (ii) include multiple filaments in a sheath region thereof and multiple filaments in a core region thereof, wherein the multiple filaments in the sheath and core regions thereof consist of polyethylene with a relative viscosity of more than 5 dl/g as measured on a solution of polyethylene in decalin with a concentration of 0.05% at 135° C. according to ASTM D 4020, and wherein a weight ratio between the multiple filaments in the sheath region and the multiple filaments in the core region is below 5:1, and wherein the multiple filaments in the core region show substantially no adhesion to each other, and wherein the multiple filaments in the sheath region form a substantially non-porous layer around the multiple filaments in the core region.