Adhesions

April 3, 2001

I was introduced to this topic on another list and was curious enough

to do some digging. I found an excellent site that explains it

generally but doesn't specifically relate to WLS.

The numbers are frightening and I don't understand why we haven't

heard more about this from post-ops. The web site says pretty well

everybody gets adhesions after surgery (pelvic surgery in particular)

but that not all adhesions cause pain.

What's the experience of this group?

Here's a few numbers (for those of you that like that kind of thing):

" The rate of adhesion formation after surgery is surprising given the

relative lack of knowledge about ADHESIONS among doctors and patients

alike. From autopsies on victims of traffic accidents, Weibel and

Majno (1973) found that 67% of patients who had undergone surgery had

adhesions. This number increased to 81% and 93% for patients with

major and multiple procedures respectively. Similarly, Menzies and

Ellis (1990) found that 93% of patients who had undergone at least

one previous abdominal operation had adhesions, compared with only

10.4% of patients who had never had a previous abdominal operation.

Furthermore, 1% of all laparotomies developed obstruction due to

adhesions within one year of surgery with 3% leading to obstruction

at some time after surgery. Of all cases of small bowel obstruction,

60-70% of cases involve adhesions (Ellis, 1997). Lastly, following

surgical treatment of adhesions causing intestinal obstruction,

obstruction due to adhesion reformation occurred in 11 to 21% of

cases (Menzies, 1993). "

Sue McN.

Vancouver, BC (Canada, eh?)

315/51

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