Adhesions: A common surgical complication

What are Adhesions?

How Adhesions Affect a Patient

To learn more

What are Adhesions?

Adhesions are fibrous bands that connect tissue surfaces that are normally separated. Adhesion formation is a natural consequence of surgery as the body begins to heal, but it can cause significant complications for the patient. For example, following an abdominal surgery, adhesions may form between an incision in the abdominal wall and the small bowel, causing an obstruction in the small bowel. This type of adhesion often leads to additional surgical procedures to remove the obstruction.

Adhesions develop in 93% of patients following abdominal and pelvic surgery. Abdominal and pelvic surgery include procedures such as hernia repair, gynecological surgeries, colorectal surgeries, and many others.

How Adhesions Affect a Patient

Adhesions can lead to serious complications including:

small bowel obstruction

female infertility

chronic debilitating pain

difficulty with future operations

The consequences of adhesions can be substantial. Post-surgical adhesions cause up to 74% of bowel obstructions and are responsible for 20-50% of chronic pelvic pain cases.

Quite often a patient will undergo surgery to dissect adhesions, only to have them re-form. Re-operations are also complicated by adhesions. Surgeons have to spend a considerable amount of time, anywhere from 10 minutes to several hours, cutting adhesions before the new procedure can begin. This can prolong the patient's recovery time and increase the risk, cost and complexity of the surgery.

To Learn More

Patients should ask their surgeons about adhesions and adhesion prevention for their specific surgery. Physicians can learn more about Genzyme Biosurgery’s adhesion prevention product by following the link below.

Seprafilm ™ Adhesion Barrier for Abdominopelvic Surgery

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